Secrets
by JoJo69
Summary: All we know about Jessica is that she changed her name,changed schools,and has something to hide. What is her secret and can she keep it around all of the gorgeous guys and preppy girls at WestWick Acadmey? Or will she break and tell someone? Find out now
1. The New Me

The New Me

"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." -Victor Frank

As I looked out the window I couldn't help but not feel like myself. Well it could be the new clothes, hair, contacts, makeup, and shoes. I have a good reason for this though. I can start over, a new beginning. I just have to keep it together and no one will know.

"Okay we're almost there, Sweetie!" my mom said to me. She seemed to be actually excited that I'm going to a boarding school. I thought when I told her I wanted to go to Brooksville that she would pitch a fit and refuse to take me. She proved me wrong. She especially proved me wrong when I told her I just wanted to fly, but she said that since we wouldn't see each other until Christmas Break, she wanted to have one last road trip with me.

I replied, "Cool." I paused for a moment then continued, "Hey Mom, how long do we have left?"

"Umm…about fifteen to twenty five minutes. Why? Are you nervous about your first day at Brooksville?"

"Well since I don't know anybody there I would have to say yes."

I lied to her. I'm not nervous at all. In fact, I'm glad nobody knows me. That's why I picked WestWick; it's on the other side of the country. I told my mom I'm going to Brooksville, but I am really going to WestWick. That is the only place where I can start over.

"Don't worry, Jessica. They will love you. Especially with your new hair! I thought you looked great as a blonde, but to be honest you look better as a brunette. And those blue eye contacts, makes your eyes pop." She passed by a police car and slowed down a little bit. "Now if you ever need anything, anything at all, just let me know and I will be on the next flight." She paused for a few seconds. I was trying to see or hear what she was doing, but I could only hear one thing; and I had to be wrong. She would never—then I heard it.

Oh my gosh, was she crying? Like actual, real, non-fake tears? I have only seen her cry one other time in my life before. But I can't think about that, I won't let myself.

_It's okay, Jessica. This is why you're doing all of this. This is the only way to get your life back to normal._

"Mom. . .are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I am totally fine." I could barely hear her through her tears. But, as usual, she tried to hide her emotions. That's what lawyers did, right? They try to hide their emotions so the jury can't see how they feel about their client. She was still my mom though. My crazy, tempered mom. I think I'm actually going to miss her.

No! I can't miss her. I am never going to see her again. I won't let myself miss her.

I took a deep breath; I was about to ask her for a serious favor. This was the last step to my new life. But little did she know that as soon as I stepped out of this car, I would take a cab to the train station and head to WestWick. I would also change my e-mail and my cell phone number. I had to incase she ever found out what I did.

"Hey mom, since so much has happened to us in the past few months…" _Or you, things just happened to you._ But I had to make her think I was sad. "I mean the whole thing with dad and Trey-"

"What's your point?"

"All I was trying to say was that I got a total makeover. I changed my hair color, I got blue eyes, and I totally changed myself. I think I should change my name. Now before you freak out I don't want to do it legally," _Yes I do, even if you say no, I am so doing it_. "I mean all you have to do is call me by that name. I would tell the people and my teachers at Brooksville my fake name. So, what do you think?" I was just waiting for another panic attack.

"I think it's a great idea, honey. What name did you have in mind?" OMG. I was screaming inside, I was so happy.

_Was she for real? Wait a minute, she is never this nice. There has to be a catch._

Mom continued, "To me, you look like a Caitlin. And just to remind you I could say no to your whole name-changing idea. So if I were you, I would stick with Caitlin." She said it matter-of-factly. I hated when she did that.

"I think Caitlin is a great name." I couldn't help but smile when I said that.

"That's great, Jess—I mean Caitlin. So anyways we have about ten minutes left. I'll let you just relax."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. Whenever she said "I will let you relax" that's code for: I can't handle this, I'm about to break down.

I looked to my side and I completely forgot about my purse. Every time I look at it I laugh to myself. Nobody in Salem had a Gucci purse. Mine was light brown with a dark brown handle. It had a giant G in the center. Everyone back home was super jealous. One time my ex-boyfriend, Jake Brian, saw it when we were making out and he tried to take it from me. He wanted to sell it. And why wouldn't he? It was worth more than his entire baseball collection.

In the corner of my eye, I saw my journal sticking out of my purse. I teared up at the sight of it. That one, tiny, mini notebook contained my darkest secrets. My dad gave it to me when I was just ten, I barely used it then, but when I was 14 I just wrote in it. I really started to use it when I had confessions to make. I couldn't tell anyone else, so I just wrote it down. I write in it once a week now. I flipped my pink journal open to the last page I wrote in and I read it to myself:

Dear Journal,

Today was the day I broke up with Bryce. In fact, I just broke up with him. I hated to do it, but I had to after he told me his dad was a cop. Nobody in my past life could know where I am going. I am very happy to be going to WestWick. The only thing I hate about the school is that it has uniforms...which is totally gross. I am not going to miss my mom. Enough of that though, exactly one week from today it will be my first week at WestWick. My mom gave me 1000 dollars to start with. That's a good thing because the train to WestWick from Brooksville was about 200 dollars, not including taxi money. And starting next month, she will be sending me 100 dollars a week as an allowance. I cant wait to start my new life. . .well I guess you cant call it new if you have started over once already. But whatever, write to you soon!

-xoxo

I read that three times. Every single time I read it I think of my Dad, Karen and Trey. I found myself trembling.

"Caitlin, we're here! Oh my gosh this campus is amazing! But wait, It said in the review you showed me that they had uniforms…the kids aren't wearing uniforms."

_Crap! Crap, Crap, Crap! Did I accidentally show her the WestWick review. I had to…WestWick had uniforms, not Brooksville. It's gonna be okay Jessica. Just think of something…_

"They do have uniforms, Mom. Today isn't actually the first day of school, tomorrow is. So we don't have to wear them until tomorrow. So just stop freaking out." I hope she believes that. My life literally depends on if she believes my lie or not.

"Okay, whatever you say, Caitlin. So do you want any help finding anything or unpacking your-"

"No!" She could not come in with me because then she would know I wasn't enrolled in Brooksville. "No, its fine, Mom. I don't need any help. Thank you though."

She replied slowly, "Okay. That's fine." _Great…here come the tears._ "Sweetie I am going to miss you so, so, so, so much! I can't tell you how sorry I am for everything I've done this past year. I mean with everything that has happened to you, I thought that was my fault. Then with everything with your dad and Trey…I just…"

She started crying big time now. _Wait a minute, did she just say "I thought that was my fault"! Oh my gosh! How could she say that! I'm glad that I am leaving her, she deserves it! Okay now I am mad!_

"How could you even say that! What you think it's MY fault! How could you possibly think that? Bryce loved dad-"

She interrupted me, "Don't you dare mention that boy to me!"

We were both screaming and arguing for three minutes until I finally just got up and left without a simple good-bye.

She rolled down her window and yelled, "You can forget about your allowance for the first semester! And if you make one C…just one I will come up here and talk to the headmaster."

She would not do that. I know that. So I just decided to walk away and ignore her. I walked around the street corner and waited until I heard her obnoxious Mustang drive off.

Five minutes past and she just now left. Lucky for me I still had the weekend to get to WestWick, which was good because it was on the other side of Massachusetts and I still had to go to the DMV and get my new driver's license with my new name. I guess I was just lucky because Brooksville started a week before WestWick did.

I stood on the street corner saying it over and over again in my head, "_Hello, my name is Stephanie Peterson."_

I could not mess this up. I was no longer a Jessica which I was for almost seventeen years. Or a Caitlin which I was for about twenty minutes. If I mess this up then my life would be over. This is the new me. There is no turning back now.


	2. The Plan Into Action

The Plan into Action

"Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work." - Peter F. Drucker

I stood on the street corner trying to call a taxi.

_How long does it take to call a freaking taxi? Here comes one…finally. _I stepped into the taxi and sat down.

"Where are you headed?" the cute, skinny taxi driver asked me.

"Ummm….I uh….I…wait, what?" I could not focus on my new plan with a cute driver.

He smiled and laughed a quiet laugh and said, "I said where you heading to, Gorgeous?"

Gorgeous? I like the sound of that. "Oh! I thought you said, umm… something else? Ha-ha. Okay umm, the St. Marcus Train Station please."

He started to drive and I could have sworn I saw him look at me through his rear-view mirror. But that was probably just my imagination. Or I thought so until we stopped at a red light and he turned fully around to me and smiled again.

"So where you from?" He kind of had a southern accent, which I always found very sexy in a man. He also had dark brown hair with light brown eyes and sparkling, pearl white teeth.

"Oregon. You?"

"Tennessee. But when I was ten I moved to Texas."

"So what made you decide to move to Boston then?"

"I go to school here. My older brother is a professor at the same school I go to, so I'm pretty stuck at that joke of a school."

"You said professor, so I'm guessing it's a college?"

"It's actually a private boarding school."

Hmmm, we both are going to a private boarding school. We have a lot in common.

_No! Stop thinking like that Jessica. Don't let him get in your head. Besides if he went to WestWick he would be in New Bedford right now._

The light turned green and he started to drive. A few seconds later he started talking again, "My school is actually in New Bedford. But, what sucks is that it's excluded from like everything. So if you want to sneak out then you have to walk pretty far."

_WestWick is in New Bedford too. But he looks like he's in college. Well, he did say a private boarding school and not college…_

I replied, "Wow that must suck." He nodded and I continued, "So why do you drive taxis in Springfield if your school is on the other side of Massachusetts?"

"Honestly? I hate my brother. He makes my life a living hell during school." A car cut him off as he tried to turn, and he slammed down his horn at him. I laughed at his road rage. "He gives me extra homework and detention if I even whisper a word. So anyways, I have a few friends here and they let me spend summers with them. And about the taxi thing, I need a part time job during the summer so, I drive taxis." He smiled and laughed and spoke again, "So what's your name?"

"Stephanie. What's yours? Oh wait I know. Is it, 'incredibly cute taxi driver'?" He smiled and nodded his head.

"Shhh…." He laughed. "Well to be honest that's just my undercover name. I only give the incredibly cute girls my real name. So since your here, my name is Ashton."

I laughed and said, "Well Ashton it looks I'm at my stop. So I'll give you my money and maybe if you're lucky I'll give you my number."

I couldn't help but smile as I stepped out of the car. He was the exact opposite of Bryce, which I liked. The cab fare was thirty five dollars. I got my wallet out and pulled out four ten dollar bills.

"Don't worry 'bout the money, I'll take care of it," he said.

"That's really sweet of you, thank you. Are you sure though? It's no problem at all."

Ashton looked amused. "Fine. If you insist on it, then allow me to take you to my favorite restaurant tomorrow night for dinner then I will pay for it. But I also saw you take out a five dollar tip for me. So as for the tip I will take your number." He had a cocky smile on his face.

Before I replied I looked down and smiled a little, cute, flirtatious grin. "Okay, if I have to then-"

"Yes you have to."

"Ha-ha. Wow, you're kind of cocky for a taxi driver. Then again, sometimes being cocky works." I gave him my number and he gave me his.

He looked at me for a minute then said, "So where should I pick you up and what time?"

I was confused at first then I remembered he asked me out to dinner. "Oh yeah. Well if you haven't noticed, I'm at a train station. I'm leaving town. My school starts in a week in New Bedford and I have a lot of stuff to do before I get to-"

My heart just about sank when I realized what I said. _Great. I've already said way too much. I shouldn't have said where my school is or when it starts. And I really shouldn't have said that I have a lot of stuff to do._

"You go to school in New Bedford? Sweet! So do I! I'm leaving for N.B. in two days. Here umm, what's your e-mail address."

"Why do you need my e-mail?"

"So we can IM each other. If you have a different server than me, then I'll just get a new e-mail."

He seemed so sweet and so nice. How can I say no to that? I starting blushing and I know he noticed because he got a little, cute smirk on his face.

I gave him my e-mail and IM name. "So now, Ashton, you don't have an excuse for not talking to me. Because now, you have my number, my e-mail, and my chat name. I'll be on chat tonight at nine. Talk to you then."

After that I told him what hotel I was staying at. Then without looking back I walked straight into the train station and got on board. It turns out the train was full of teenagers and a few young adults. I looked at my ticket and my seat number was 29B.

_Great, so now I am stuck between two people._

I found my seat and luckily, nobody was sitting on seat C. On seat A, there was a young girl who was really pretty. She was wearing a white tank top with a black leather jacket and white heels. Her jeans were really tight skinny jeans. Her hair went right to her chin and was very blonde with a few hershey brown streaks in her side bangs. The next thing I noticed was her very cute purse; it was a Marc Jacobs bag. It was big and gold and very her outfit.

_I wonder if she goes to WesWwick. She could get me into the right group fast._

I sat in my seat. She looked me up and down with one eye-brow raised. Thank goodness I was wearing a cute, short (but at the same time _not_ slutty) blue summer dress with tall white heels. I had white sunglasses over my eyes and my Gucci bag around my wrist. I sat down and crossed my legs. My new long brown hair was slightly curled today, which looked very cute. I took off my glasses and put them in my purse. She finally stopped checking me out and spoke.

"Hi. My name is Kelsey." She had a slight British accent which barely noticeable. She stuck out her manicured hand with a slight smile on her face. I smiled back and shook her hand.

"Hi, Kelsey." I tried to act all stuck up. I had a feeling she was pulling my leg with the nice act.

"So how old are you? I'm seventeen and I am about to be a junior at WestWick Academy."

Okay the stuck-up act was done for me. If I could get her to be my friend then I wouldn't look stupid on my first day at WestWick. "Cool. I'm seventeen too. This will be my first year at WestWick."

"You're going to love the Academy. The campus is beautiful, the dorms are great, and the guys are hot!" We both laughed and talked for like fifteen minutes. After talking, we exchanged phone numbers and e-mails.

Then a guy walked up at sat on seat C. He was very hot. Not cute, but hot. He was wearing a nice dark red shirt with black slacks. The shirt was tucked in and the pants were held up by a nice black belt. I looked at his shoes as he sat down and they were nice black wing-tips. He had blonde hair with light blue eyes; he was pale, but it looked nice on him. He saw me staring at him and smiled. I blushed and then he looked proud or something.

"Hello, my name is Clint. I am a senior at WestWick Academy. I am eighteen years old. I was born in Carlisle, England. It's a pleasure to meet you." He had a very thick British accent, which is very hot, in my opinion. He took my hand and kissed it. I blushed even more and he smiled even more.

"Well it's nice to meet you Clint from Carlisle. I'm Stephanie from Oregon. So, why all the history?" He laughed, and I blushed…again.

_Okay could you stop being so damn cute! If I blush anymore I'm gonna be like a tomato. _

"Because, Stephanie from Oregon, if I talk about me first then there is more time to talk about you." Okay now I couldn't help it. I just smiled and blushed, and I didn't care.

"Well, Clint, what do you want to know?" I said with a smile.

"How old you are, where you go to school, what your favorite activities are, and your favorite place to eat so I can take you there." He said all of that with a big fat smile.

"Okay then. I am seventeen years old, I am going into my first year at WestWick, I do soccer, and actually I like movies better than eating." I somehow managed to say all of that without blushing…thank goodness!

"It's your first year at WestWick? Well you, Stephanie, are going to adore it. Once school starts and you unpack I'll give you a call and we can see a movie. Sound good?"

"Yes it does." We exchanged digits and e-mails.

Our train stopped in a town near New Bedford. I said my goodbyes to Clint and Kelsey. After that, I went straight to the hotel to drop off my things. Since the hotel was only a ten minute walk from the station there was no need for a taxi. Once I got there and checked in, there was a hand-written note on my bed. It read:

Dear Stephanie,

Hey Steph! It's me Ashton. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Wow this guy is a creep!" Ha-ha. Well no…I'm not. My grandfather owns the hotel you are staying at so I told him to put this note on your bed….so I hope it got there. Don't forget about our little "date" tonight on chat, ha-ha. Talk to you then.

Ashton

Okay Ashton is really sweet, but I can't have a boyfriend right now. Secrets might slip out then I could lose someone else I love.

I unpacked my things and put my sign on do not disturb. I saw my journal and it reminded me that I need to write in it today. I picked it up and wrote:

Dear Journal,

Today I saw my mom for the last time. I really want to apologize but I can't. I can never see or talk to her again. If she ever found out what I did then...then I would have to do something that I really don't want to do. But anyways I met 2 really hot guys 2day and one nice girl. Her name is Kelsey and I met Ashton and Clint. They are all very nice. Ashton and Clint both asked me out 2day. I will go on both dates and see who I like more...lol. Right now I am about 2 go 2 the DMV to get my new license. As of today I am Stephanie Peterson. I am really going to miss my old friends...but they can never know what I did. I g2g It's almost 2pm. Talk 2 u in a week!

-xoxo

I put my journal back in my purse. I got my key card and I left for the DMV. Luckily, there were only five people in line in front of me. Within fifteen minutes I was first.

I walked up to the counter and there was a woman, she was probably in her late thirties. She was wearing an ugly, long sleeved, white top with a giant button on her left shoulder that said: **DMV Worker, Vivian. **She was an African American and had her hair pulled back in a low bun. Vivian or whatever was reading _Reader's Digest_.

"Welcome to the DMV. My name is Vivian, how may I help you?" She sounded like she was constipated and she never looked up once.

"Umm, hi. I lost my driver's license and I need a replacement please." I tried to sound as friendly as possible.

She finally looked up. "Okay look kid, just because you didn't like your picture, it doesn't mean that you lost it. Okay? So just run along and I won't call security on you for lying to a government-fund facility."

_Someone has an attitude problem. I should do something, but I have a feeling that security could actually lock me up for a day or two and that would not be good. _

I smiled a fake smile and said, "Ma'am, I liked my picture. I honestly lost mine. So can I please just get a new one."

She raised an eyebrow and checked me out. Vivian looked like she was trying to see something; hopefully she wasn't a lesbian. That would be kind of awkward…

She finally spoke, "Okay you seem sort-of sweet, so I will try to get you a new one. Name and address please."

"Stephanie Peterson and I attend WestWick Academy." I tried to say that calmly, but I think that came out in a nervous way.

_Please, please let this work. If that Vivian doesn't get me a freaking license then I swear I will just-_

She typed something in her computer. I sighed impatiently and she smiled an evil smile. "I'm sorry but we do not have a Stephanie Peterson in the system that is currently enrolled at WestWick Academy."

My eyebrows pulled together. "Try it again." I demanded. "I should be in their system."

"I suppose I could try typing your name in again," Vivian was speaking as she was typing, "how do you spell your name?" I told her and she said, "Ah-ha. There you are Miss Peterson. I suppose we could try to get you a license by the beginning of school. Where did you say you were from?"

I smiled so wide my cheeks hurt. I can't believe this is really happening. My plan is falling into place. "I am from Oregon."

"One moment…" she typed on her computer and searched her. Thank goodness before I came up here I went to the hospital and bribed a doctor to make a fake birth certificate for a Stephanie Peterson.

"Yes. Here you are Ms Peterson. Okay now I just need you to fill out this form saying your name, the last time you saw your license, and sign these papers here." She gave me a stack of at least 5 papers.

It only took me ten minutes to fill them all out. I gave them back to Vivian. She read them over and marked it as approved. I got my picture taken and they said my license would be delivered to my mailbox the first day at WestWick.

I thought of what else I needed to do. I should probably go to the phone store now. I really needed to change my number.

I took a cab to the nearest Sprint store. Now here, I wasn't so lucky. There was a huge line, so I decided to go to the library and then come back when the line died down. When I walked into the library, the first thing I thought was, _Wow. There are not a lot of people here at all. I'm sure nobody here likes to read, I sure don't. The only time I ever come to the library is to get on the computer._

There was one computer open so I sat there. I checked my e-mail and I had a lot from my mom, but I just deleted them all. I had one from Clint. It read:

_Hello Stephanie. This is Clint. So I was just thinking about you and I thought I should e-mail you ;). I really thought we hit it off and I wanted to introduce you to my family. I haven't told you this, but I have 2 brothers and 1 sister. My brothers are crazy idiots ha-ha. But my sister is really nice and I think you two would get along perfectly. She does soccer as well. So just text me or e-mail me back. So either one….i'll ummm…see you later, I guess :)_

_Yours Truly,_

_Clint_

Aww. Clint is truly the gentlemen. He is very nice. I'll text him when I get my new phone so he'll have my new number. I clicked inbox and checked my e-mails from my friends and deleted all of them.

Oh my gosh, an IM just popped up…from Bryce.

**BballBryce: Hey**

**BballBryce: You there Jess?...i know you are…**

Oh. My. Gosh.

What am I supposed to do now? If he knows I'm online then I must have accidentally signed into chat. Crap!

**Sweet_angel7771: hi…**

**BballBryce: hi? That's all you have to say after dumping me? You told me u loved me! U told me the whole freakin story bout ur dad and brother! And I havnt said a word…then one week later u dump me! Wat the freakin hell is up w/ that?**

**Sweet_angel7771: I told u…I moved away and I didn't want a long distance relationship**

**BballBryce: well u havnt been responding 2 my txts or calls…**

**Sweet_angel7771:ur right…and 4 good reason**

**Sweet_angel7771: look im srry…but I g2g**

**BballBryce: fine…whatever. But b4 u do I want u 2 know that u broke my heart! I loved u…I kept ur little secret and after all that u just break-up w/ me! U DO NOT deserve me. Have fun with ur new life. **

Before I had a chance to respond he logged off. I sighed.

_I need to send Ashton an e-mail. After this I will go back to the phone store._

_To: ___

_From: __**Sweet_**_

_Subject: __**Note**_

_Hey Ashton! It's me, Stephanie __. I got ur note and I wanted 2 say thank you…that was a very nice thing for you to do. And fyi-u have verrry good hand writing 4 a boy…lol. I also wanted to say that I am heading 2 the phone store…im changing my number, so I will txt u once I get my phone and give u the #...or I guess if I txt u then u will have it…haha anyways I g2g. cant wait 4 our "date" 2night…lol. See ya then! __ bye!_

_-Stephanie_

After that I headed back to the sprint store. This time there were only three people in line ahead of me. I waited my turn and all the sudden my phone beeped. The caller i.d. said: _Mom_. I really wanted to answer and apologize, but I couldn't; I pressed ignore. I looked up and it was my turn in line. There was a tall, bald man and according to his nametag his name was Henry.

"Welcome to sprint. How may I help you?"

I smiled and said, "Hey. I need a new phone! Now before you ask, I already have a phone and a plan. What I need you to do is cancel my old phone and get me a new one. Can you do that for me, Henry?" I tried to be flirty on that last part by batting my long eyelashes at him, but he showed no emotion whatsoever.

"Do you have your phone with you miss?"

"Yes I do, right here."

I got my phone out and handed it to him. He looked at it and typed some code into his computer. He asked me what type of phone I wanted and I picked out just a normal flip phone. It had texting, picture mail, internet, and games.

"All right miss, would you like to change your number too?"

"Yes please!"

He read me a list of available phone numbers and I picked one. I paid for my phone and took a taxi back to the hotel. It was almost five o' clock when I got a text.

_Wait a second…nobody has my number. I just got the phone._

The caller i.d. was blocked but the text read:

_**I know who you are and what you have done. If you don't follow my instructions exactly then I will expose you for what you truly are…and we both know what that is, don't we **__**Jessica**__**? :) You should hear from me soon!**_

_How could anyone know who I am? I just moved here! Okay someone here must be from Oregon, how else could they know me?_

_It's okay, Jessica. Just breathe. _

_Wait! The only person who actually knows what I did is Bryce! He has to be the one, but how does he know my new number? Okay, whatever it's all fine. I will deal with Bryce later…_


	3. The Date

The "Date"

"Lust is easy. Love is hard. Like is most important."-Carl Reiner

After I got that text, I just wanted to go to bed and pretend it never happened. I took a nap and woke up at six thirty. I woke up and to my dismay, today hadn't been a dream. Someone out there, hopefully just Bryce, knows who I really am. I sighed and sat up from my bed. I rubbed my temples; my head was pounding.

Luckily, the hotel had a bar. There, I had a cheeseburger and a glass of wine. I was so tired. I kept thinking, after this I am going to go to bed. But then I remembered my "date" with Ashton.

Okay so the "date" was at nine and it was only seven thirty. Since I had an hour and a half to spare, I kept ordering martini's after the glass of wine. The last time I had a drink was _that _night. I was glad that drinks were still enjoyable. I would've thought that it would make me think of that ungodly night, but I wanted to take the edge off. The martinis did just the trick.

I was surprised the bar keeper even got me a drink, I mean was under-age drinking not a law anymore? Oh well. Forty five minutes past of me drinking martini's and eating my cheeseburger. I ordered the check and stumbled back to my room slightly drunk.

I signed in my e-mail just to see if he was online and he was. I started the first conversation:

**Sweet_angel7771: Hey…u there?**

**AshmanB1: Yeah! Hey! How r u?**

**Sweet_angel7771: exhausted and slightly drunk. Lol. U?**

**Ashmanb1: I just got through working out so me 2…I mean exhausted btw, I am sadly not drunk. haha**

**Sweet_angel7771: Well the night's still young :) **

**Ashmanb1: This is true, haha. Hey, so u never told me wat skool ur going to**

**Sweet_angel7771: WestWick. U?**

**Ashmanb1: me 2! Kool! Ur a junior right?**

**Sweet_angel7771: yeah…r u?**

**Ashman 1: yup :) sweet! But u know wat sux?**

**Sweet_angel7771:wat?**

**Ashmanb1: my brother is the dean of students in the 11****th**** grade :/ He is awful and if he knows that we are friends…then he will be on ur case all year**

**Sweet_angel7771: really? Gross…does he teach any classes?**

**Ashmanb1: yeah, he teaches our lit class I think…but hes a really harsh teacher…**

**Sweet_angel7771: greattttt….haha**

**Ashmanb1: so…tell me bout ur self**

**Sweet_angel7771: wat do u want 2 know**

**Ashmanb1: well…4 starters, wat made u want 2 come 2 WestWick**

**Sweet_angel7771: ummm….idk. isn't it one of the best boarding skools in the country?**

**Ashmanb1: in my opinion….no. haha. But in the country's then yes :)**

**Sweet_angel7771: haha…so wat do u do 4 fun?**

**Ashmanb1: well….i play the guitar, I play soccer, baseball and track, and I like writing some of my own songs sometimes. I LOVE music and sports, that's like my life…how bout u**

**Sweet_angel7771: I sing, dance, and play soccer**

**Ashmanb1: kool! Wow sweet**

**Sweet_angel7771: yeah…**

**Ashmanb1: maybe we could get together sometime and u could listen 2 one of my songs**

**Sweet_angel7771:yeah! That would be awesome :) **

**Ashmanb1: wait did u say that u play soccer?**

**Sweet_angel7771: yeah…why?**

**Ashmanb1: no that's kool, but my brother is the girls soccer coach…**

**Sweet_angel7771: o…well whatev it should still be fine**

**Ashmanb1: yeah**

**Sweet_angel7771: so wat else does ur bro teach?**

**Ashmanb1: umm…junior lit, senior lit, and he coaches varsity girls soccer**

**Sweet_angel7771: wow…so I have him 2 times a day, great…**

**Ashmanb1: haha**

**Sweet_angel7771: yeah**

**Ashmanb1: yeah…o and fyi- my brother and our soccer coach r really tight so they sometimes combine practices boys and girls. **

**Sweet_angel7771: kool**

**Ashmanb1: yup**

**Sweet_angel7771: so wats his name**

**Ashmanb1: Director Brown or in soccer, coach brown**

**Sweet_angel7771:hmm…Ashton Brown huh? Lol**

**Ashmanb1: wats ur last name**

**Sweet_angel7771: Peterson**

**Ashmanb1: hmm…Stephanie Peterson huh? Haha**

**Sweet_angel7771: well this "date" is fun**

**Ashmanb1: haha yeah it is**

**Sweet_angel7771: so when did u say u were coming into town?**

**Ashmanb1: 2morrow **

**Sweet_angel7771: kool**

**Ashmanb1: yeah…**

**Sweet_angel7771: maybe when u get here u can txt me and we could get some coffee or something...wat time will u get here**

**Ashmanb1: around noon**

**Sweet_angel7771: Do u wanna meet somewhere 4 lunch? U owe me that real date remember?**

**Ashmanb1: haha…sure I'll call u 2morrow when my train leaves**

**Sweet_angel7771: okay so see u then?**

**Ashmanb1: yeah…see ya**

**Sweet_angel7771: bye :)**

After that, I put my pajama's on and I went straight to sleep.


	4. Not What I Expected

Not What I Expected

"The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced."

-Frank Zappa

It was six a.m. when I woke up to someone pounding on my door. _Who could be here this early? Nobody even knows me expect for three people. _

"Just a sec!" I yelled out as I crawled out of my bed. I was only wearing white silk tank-top and pink silk shorts. I put on my gray Hollister jacket and zipped it up.

"Ma'am, open the door!" the person yelled. It sounded like a man. Why would a man be pounding on my door at six in the morning?

I opened my door and two police officers stood in front of me. My eyes were huge and my mouth dropped slightly, but I managed to get it back up before they noticed. _Oh crap! How could they have found out? I thought I have been so careful! Did Bryce turn me in? _

"Are you Stephanie Peterson?" One of the police officers asked me while getting out his handcuffs.

"Yes?" I wasn't sure if I should run, lie, or just see what happens. I just stood there with my knees shaking.

"Stephanie Peterson you are under arrest for under-age drinking and robbery." The man grabbed my wrist. I broke free and tried to make a run for it.

_If they arrested me for this, then they could find out who I really am._

I ran down the hallway and took the stairs down two steps at a time. When I was in the main lobby I looked behind me and there was only one officer there. _What happened to the other one? Oh it doesn't matter, Jessica, just run! _ When I turned my head around, the other one was there with his gun held up at me.

I stopped and put my hands in the air. _How did he get in front of me? _I turned around and the other officer was right behind me.

"Get on your knees and don't move!" the officer with the gun yelled. _I don't know why they are making me get down. It's probably just for dramatic effect. _I did as I was told and got on my knees. The other officer got me in handcuffs and got me off the ground. The cop still had that freaking gun at me! _It's not like I'm going to run with handcuffs on me. _

They got me in the car and I as soon as I got in I said, "There must be some mistake. I've never stolen anything or taken a drink in my life!"

The "gun" officer turned around to look at me, and smirked. "Then why did you run away?"

"Because I thought you were going to take me away. Which you are," I replied with a tear in my eye.

"Why would you think that? Did you do something else worth being arrested for?" the "gun" officer said. He still smiled at me, like he knew what I was talking about.

"I. I, umm…n-no," I stuttered.

"Well, Stephanie, if that's even your name, I think you did do something else. I think this, because I have been a police officer for fifteen years, and I can tell when a _criminal _is hiding something. And I think that you are hiding something _big, _and I will figure it out." He eyed me suspiciously.

"You will figure out nothing, because I didn't do anything," I spat back at him.

The other officer looked annoyed at his fellow worker and me. He turned around and yelled, "Stephanie I swear if you don't shut up then Kyle here will be the least of your problems! And Kyle, you shouldn't even be talking to her!"

I smiled and laughed quietly. "Well Kyle here is already the least of my worries. And as soon as I step out of this stupid car, I'm getting out of here."

"Okay so two things. One, that's Officer Watson to you. Two, I'm going to _personally _make sure that you stay in my jail for _at least_ five days," He replied.

"Enough!" The other officer yelled. I just decided to ignore him. This little game with Kyle was both fun and entertaining.

I looked Kyle straight in the eye and said, "Look, you don't have the authority and even if you did you don't have enough dirt to keep me for five days." At least I hoped he didn't. If he did then I would only have two days to get to WestWick.

"Actually, I do have both the authority and the dirt. I am second in command at the N. B. P. D. As for the dirt, here is what I have _so far: _you got drunk last night, you stole money, and you resisted arrest."

I just sat there; I couldn't say anything else. Officer Watson just smiled at me because he knew that he had won. The other officer drove into the N.B.P.D. and parked his car. Of course, Officer Watson was the one who got me out of the car.

He led me in the jail and as soon as I walked in I saw the jail cells. I started to tear up but I quickly wiped them off onto my shoulder.

"I want my phone call now. I don't want it later, I want it now," I said to Officer Watson.

He scoffed and said, "It doesn't matter what you want, it matters what I want to give you. Right now I don't want to give you anything, expect for an hour of questioning." He handed me over to another police officer and said to him, "Put her in room seven and wait for me and Sullivan to get there. Sit her down and put her in the table handcuffs."

His eyebrows pulled together and replied, "Sir, with all-due-respect, room seven is for real criminals. Not a high school teenager who got drunk one night."

"I know. That's why I want her there. She's hiding something and I'm gonna find out what."

"Yes, sir."

He pulled me into a small room with one table in the middle and handcuffs in the center. There were two chairs on each side of the table. One was a small metal chair and the other was a big one made of wood.

_I'm guessing the small, metal one is mine. Great._

He got his keys out unlocked my 'cuffs. He grabbed one of my wrists, but before he could get my hand in the other handcuffs I punched him. He was so surprised that he paused for two seconds. I managed to kick him where it hurt. He screamed, which alerted some guards. Within moments, there were three other police officers in the room, including Officer Watson.

"I got her," Officer Watson said as he grabbed my arm and pulled it behind my back. He had one of the other guards shove me in the chair and shackle my feet to it as he put me in the other handcuffs. They were so tight I could hardly move my hands or my feet. I looked up and found Officer Watson staring at me and smiling.

The door opened and a tall, muscular, thin man stepped out. He wasn't wearing a normal police officer uniform. He was wearing a black suit with a red tie. His short blonde hair was slicked back. _He must be Officer Sullivan._

"Hey, Watson, so what do we have here?" Sullivan said as he walked over to Officer Watson. He cleared his throat and Kyle stood up and stood next to him. Officer Watson explained to him what I did.

"Looks like a normal seventy-two. Could you not handle this on your own? This girl isn't a serious criminal. We shouldn't even be in this room."

Watson replied, "Sir, she is a flight risk. She just assaulted a police officer, she ran away from me and Sanders back at the hotel, she got drunk last night, and she stole ten thousand dollars. I'm pretty sure this isn't a normal code seventy-two."

"Fine. Let's get started," Sullivan said as he looked up at me.

I felt embarrassed when I realized that I was still wearing my pink, silk, short, lacey shorts from bed. I started, "Officer Sullivan-"

"It's Detective Sullivan and you should not speak unless spoken to, is that understood?"

I scoffed and said sarcastically, "Sure."

"Good. Now, this will go much more smoothly if you corporate. In order to do so all you have to do is answer questions. Okay?"

"Fine. Whatever," I replied

_Okay, wow. They don't arrest me for what I did, but the arrest me for drinking. You gotta love the system…_


	5. Questioning

Questioning

"Truth only reveals itself when one gives up all preconceived ideas." -Shoseki

"Where do you go to school?" Sullivan asked me.

"Why do you need to know-"

"Just answer the question!" Officer Watson yelled.

"Brooksville," I replied.

"Let's try that again. Where do you go to school?" Sullivan asked me.

"I told you, Brooksville."

"I was testing you, and you failed. I already know that you are enrolled to go to WestWick Academy in a couple of days," Sullivan said.

I stared at him, confused. "I thought WestWick started in a week."

He looked at a file and shook his head. "Nope. It starts on Monday."

Great, I just now found out that school is starting in three days. I don't even have my uniform, class schedule…I don't have anything. As soon as I'm getting out of here I'm calling Ashton to help me.

"Will I be out of here by then? I can't miss the first day of school."

"If you answer the rest of our questions honestly, then yes."

I looked at Watson and said, "Can I _please_ have my phone call?"

"Not yet," Watson replied as he smiled.

"Where are you from?" Sullivan asked.

"Umm…O-Oregon."

"Good, you were honest. Next question, where are your parents?"

"My parents died in a plane crash three years ago."

"Who have you been staying with?"

"My cousins."

"Who have you been staying with Stephanie?"

"N-Nobody. I go to WestWick during the school year and I hang out with friends during the summer," I said nervously.

Detective Sullivan eyed me suspiciously and replied, "You can make your phone call now."

Sullivan and Watson looked at each other and nodded. Sullivan got up and left the room and Watson took his seat.

"What's the number?" Watson asked me.

"What?"

"What is the number you want call?"

"Why not let me out of these freaking handcuffs, give me the phone, and leave so I can talk on the phone?"

"I am _not_ letting you out of those anytime soon. So, here's how it's going to work. You are going to give me the number, I will dial it, and hold it up to you so you can talk. If that doesn't work for you then you don't have to make the call."

I thought of someone to call. I couldn't call my mom or Bryce, but I didn't know anybody else. Then it hit me, I could call Ashton or Clint. I've already memorized both of their numbers. I decided on Ashton, because we've talked more than I've talked to Clint. I gave him the number and he dialed it. He held it to my ear.

"Hello?" Ashton said tiredly. I forgot it was still like six thirty.

"Ashton? It's me, Jess-Stephanie, it's me Stephanie."

"Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Where are you?"

"I'm…umm, I'm at the New Bedford Police Department."

"What! What did you do?" That was the first time he sounded awake.

"Nothing. Well, you know how I told you I had a few drinks last night?"

"Yeah."

"Well, somehow they found out and they arrested me for that."

"How much is the fine?"

"What? Ashton, you don't have to-"

"How much is the fine, Steph!"

"Umm…hang on."

I turned to Officer Watson and asked him, "How much is the fine?"

He laughed and shook his head, "There is none, Ms Peterson."

"Ashton, they said there isn't a fine," I said while now crying.

"What! That's ridiculous! I'm on my way up there right now. Are they questioning you right now? If so, what room are you in?"

"Room seven. But, Ashton, wait-"

"Okay well, I'll take the first train out, so I'll be there in about fifteen minutes Just hang on okay?"

"Ashton I-"

Officer Watson grabbed the phone and closed it. I gave him a what-the-hell-was-that look.

"Times up," He said with a slight smirk.

I started to cry really big, this time. "Screw you! I hate you! What the hell is your problem?"

His smile got bigger as he said simply, "I just want to see you behind bars. That's all."

"When I get out of here you _will_ pay!" I screamed with tears running down my cheeks.

He got in front of me and got down so he could be at eye-level with me. "How come at the beginning of your call you started to say, 'It's me Jess, I mean Stephanie'? Is your name really Jessica?"

"I…I-"

At that time, Detective Sullivan walked in the door. He saw me crying and Officer Watson right in front of me. He looked suspicious.

The Detective raised an eyebrow and said, "What's going on here?"

"Looks like Stephanie needs to tell us something_, Detective_," Officer Watson replied.

"No I don't!"

"Watson it looks like we have a, what's the word, a situation," Sullivan said.

He sat down in his chair and Watson got up and stood next to him.

"Ms. Peterson, where have you been going to school? Who have you been staying with?"

I finally got control of myself and stopped crying. Somehow they knew my fake story wasn't true. I then said, "I've been going to Jefferson High in Salem.

"Who have you been staying with?"

"My aunt."

"One moment, please." He got out his phone. He called someone and he looked very serious all-of-the-sudden. He whispered something to Watson and left the room.

He looked at me and said, "So, why Stephanie?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you pick the name Stephanie, _Jessica_?"

"My cousin's name is Jessica. I was thinking of her when I made my phone-call so that's why I said, 'Jess I mean Stephanie' okay?"

"I'm not buying it."

"I don't give a crap what you believe."

He smiled and said, "Ouch." There was a very evident sarcastic hint to it.

"Okay, so I don't know where you got that I stole ten thousand dollars, I never stole any money! And about the whole drinking thing, everybody drinks! You should've arrested the bartender and I should have a fine that I can pay so I can leave!"

"We've already arrested the bartender; and if it was just drinking then yes, you would have a fine but are you sure you didn't steal the money?"

"Yes! Where did you get that from?"

He eyed me suspiciously and said, "What all did you do last night?"

"I had a few drinks, I chatted with someone online, and went to bed." I made direct eye contact with him and continued, "I have an alibi, so there I no reason to keep me here."

"I'll be right back."

He got up and left. I was alone for five minutes and started to cry. I've been trying to stay strong, but I was finally letting it all out. I was not only crying that I may be discovered, but also for Trey and my dad.

Detective Sullivan then walked in and said, "Okay. Now I am going to get you out of your handcuffs and into some smaller ones. But if you try anything, anything at all, I can guarantee that you will be spending at least a month in here. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay." I was done fighting.


	6. My Hero

My Hero

"If you give a cop a badge and a gun, they think they can do anything…especially with the gun."-Anonymous

He took the handcuffs out and as soon as he did my hands felt so relieved. There were so many scratches and cuts from when I was struggling to slide them off. He put the smaller ones back on wrists and made them just as tight as the other ones. He then unlocked my shackles and stood me up.

"Don't try to run away," The detective said as he shoved me in a small jail cell. He locked the cell and walked away.

It was in a back hallway to the left of the interrogation rooms. I was still in eye's view of everything though so they can keep an eye on me. "Wait!" I shouted at Sullivan.

"Yes?"

"Are you going to take these handcuffs off of me or what?"

"Not yet. I don't trust you without them on."

He walked away. After three minutes of anxious pacing there was shouting at the other end of the jail. I could have sworn it sounded like Ashton.

"Stephanie! Where are you!" Ashton yelled.

I walked to my bars and gripped them with both of my hands. "Ashton? I'm over here!"

Then I saw him running toward me with three guards behind him. The guards were probably about five seconds behind him.

He ran over to me.

"Are you okay, Steph? I'm so sorry I couldn't get here sooner. Are those handcuffs? Are you okay?" Ashton asked me.

I couldn't help but cry. "I'm okay. I just-"

Then slid his hand in between the bars, held my face, and kissed me. He kissed me through the jail cell bars. It was so sweet and really nice. The sweetness stopped though when the guards finally caught up to him and tackled him to the ground.

"Stop! Leave him alone! He didn't do anything!" I yelled at the guards.

They put him in handcuffs and told him to stay on the ground. He was only a few inches away from my cell so I got on the ground and reached my hand out to his face. He smiled and kissed it. Then Officer Watson walked over to us and held a gun to my face.

"Back away from the bars," Watson said

"What's up with you and that gun?" I said that to him like he was crazy.

"Shut up!" he yelled at me.

"Hey! It's okay there's no need to point the gun or to yell her! So just back off!" Ashton yelled.

He then pointed the gun at Ashton and said, "Get Up."

Ashton got up without question. He winked at me and I gave him an air kiss.

"Who are you and how do you know her?" Watson asked Ashton.

"She's my girlfriend." Ashton replied without taking his eyes off of me. I smiled and blushed. He got a huge smile across his face.

"What's your name?" Watson asked him. He still had that gun pointed at him.

"What's _your_ name?" Ashton replied to him, while he still smiled at me.

Watson laughed and said, "Okay let's try this again." He then pointed the gun at my leg and said, "If you don't tell me your name within five seconds, then I will shoot her leg. Five."

Ashton looked afraid and mad at the same time. "Look it was just a joke okay."

"Four."

"Ashton Brown."

"Okay, Ashton Brown," He walked behind Ashton and pushed the gun to his back and said, "Walk." Ashton did as he was told and walked. They were going into a room.

Moments later Watson came out and unlocked my cell. He led me into the same room as Ashton. I saw that Ashton was handcuffed into those freakishly tight ones. Watson pushed me down in a chair across from Ashton and handcuffed me.

"Okay so here is how this little game is going to work. If I ask Stephanie a question and if she lies or decides that she doesn't want to answer then I will shoot you, Ashton, and vise versa. Any questions? No? Good, then let's get started. First question is for Stephanie: "How many drinks did you have last night?"

Ashton laughed and said, "Dude. Really? Wow." He then did a very obnoxious whisper and said, "This guy is a moron."

I laughed and Watson cocked the gun at Ashton. I then said, "Okay look, I don't know like maybe six or seven."

Ashton laughed and said with a smile, "Nice."

"Okay if either of you talk to each other, I will shoot both of you. Next, Ashton: Why did you come here?"

"To either bale Stephanie out or to pay her bail."

At that moment Detective Sullivan walked in. When he saw Ashton he looked confused. He asked Watson, "Who is this?"

Watson replied with a mocking tone, "This is Ashton Brown, Stephanie's boyfriend. He is here to pay Stephanie's imaginary bail."

"Fine. If he wants a bail then, the bail is…five thousand dollars."

Ashton said, "I can pay that, now what's mine?"

"You, Ashton, don't have one. You can go."

Watson rolled his eyes, took off his handcuffs off me, and handed me to Sullivan who led me out front.

Detective Sullivan looked at me and said, "You aren't going without a parole officer. Do you know what that is?"

"Why do I need a parole officer?"

"Well you assaulted a police officer, you lied to us, and ran away from us. Okay?"

I nodded.

"Good. Now if you get out of line, for _anything_, if you get in a school fight, if you get a speeding ticket, then you are coming back here. And since I get to pick your parole officer, it is going to be Officer Watson. He will be checking on you once a month and be checking in with your Grade Director on how you are doing. Same goes with your boyfriend. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir," I replied sarcastically.

He looked mad and said, "Listen, Stephanie, I am doing you a huge favor. The only reason you are getting out of here, is because it turns out a different Stephanie Peterson robbed a bank. Now, if you want to stay here and be in jail then that's fine with me."

"Can I just go?"

He took off my handcuffs and led me outside. _Why is it so cold? Gosh, I am freezing!_ Then I remembered that all I am wearing is my silk shorts and my silk tank-top with my thin jacket.

Ashton was waiting for me by the gate and I hugged him and kissed him. He looked me in the eye and said, "So, I'm guessing since you just gave me the kiss of life that means we are going out now?"

I laughed and gave him a playful hit. "Well, if I have-"

"Yes, you have to." We both laughed and then he said, "Just call me a hero."

"My hero," I said. I looked into his eyes and I kissed him. He then called us a cab.


	7. His Room

His Room

"When two people move in together, you are going to get one of two things: love or sex. Very rarely do you get both."- Anonymous

Ashton and I were both quiet in the taxi. Once we got to the hotel I noticed that he had his suitcases and bags with him. He really needed a shower and to change clothes, but then again, so did I. He was only wearing an undershirt, jeans (with a hole in the right knee and a small hole under the left knee), and brown flip-flops. His long brown hair wasn't brushed and his face wasn't shaved. I think the rough look could work for him though.

He walked over to the main desk and talked with the worker for a couple of seconds.

"Come on, babe." He put his arms around my shoulders and I put mine around his waist. He led me in the elevator and during the walk we didn't stop holding each-other. As we walked in, he kissed the top of my head. He reached in his pocket to pull out a key. He used that key to unlock the first Penthouse Suite. When he put the key in, the Penthouse button lit up; he pushed it.

"Umm, Ashton, my room is on the fifth floor. I can't afford a penthouse suite."

"Oh please, you're staying with me in my room. I can't let you stay in that ugly, middle-class room," He said while smiling.

I laughed and replied, "Ashton I can't-"

"I don't want any arguing. I'm not discussing this with you," He said while laughing.

The elevator door opened and it landed in this giant suite. We walked in his living room and it had two white leather chairs and a long, black leather couch. In the center of the wall was a huge plasma screen TV that was hanging on the wall. Below the TV was a long dresser and two mini dresser's on each side. To the right of the living room was a kitchen. It had a refrigerator, a stove, oven, microwave and an island in the middle. After the kitchen was a wooden table and two chairs. To the left of the living room was a giant King size bed. It had six pillows (three on each side), the sheets were red and the comforter was black. Above the bed was a painting of a giant sailboat and an ocean. In the picture there were four people, Ashton, two other men, and a woman. To the right of his bed was a bathroom. To the left of the bed was a closet.

"Welcome to my home," Ashton said with a big smile. He kissed my hair and said, "I can sleep on the couch and you can take the bed."

I laughed and replied, "Please. Don't be ridiculous, we can sleep in the same bed."

He gave a suggestive smile and I said, "No, just no." We both laughed and smiled. He gave me a tour of the house.

He went to my old room and got my bags. Once he returned, he smiled and said, "I just noticed your clothes. Pretty hot."

"Shut up. They got me out of my hotel room at six am."

"It's okay, I like your pajamas. You should see mine." He laughed and said, "Just kidding."

I brushed my teeth, took a shower, and got dressed. Today I was wearing a red tank top and white shorts and a white head-band. While Ashton was in the shower, I straightened my hair. He came out of the shower in only five minutes. He was wearing a nice dark blue, button down shirt and nice jeans. His shaggy brown hair was nicely brushed and his bangs were still in his eyes, which was very cute.

"You look _very_ cute today," Ashton told me.

"And you look _extremely _sexy today," I told him.

I looked at my watch and it was only nine 'o clock. I said, "Can you believe it's only nine? I'm still really tired…and hungry."

"I thought you would be. So when you were taking a shower, I ordered room service. It should be here any minute."

"Aww. Thank you! You are so sweet!" I gave him a quick kiss.

He smiled. "I should order you breakfast more often." I smiled and rolled my eyes. "I would have made you breakfast, but I need to go grocery shopping."

"Wait. You mean this is really your room. Like you live here?"

"I come here most weekends, yes."

"And you said that you cooked?"

"Yeah, when I was eight my mom broke her arm, so she couldn't cook at all. My brother was at college and my dad…wasn't around. So, I learned how to cook."

"I think that is great." I kissed him again and then I heard someone knock at the door. I opened the door and there was a woman with a long cart of food. There were waffles, pancakes, fruit, muffins, cereal, oatmeal, milk, orange juice and coffee.


	8. Getting To Know You

Getting To Know You

"If we are to live together we have to talk and get to know each other."- Eleanor Roosevelt

He turned to me and said, "I didn't know what you like, so I got all of it."

I shrugged. "I like anything really."

"Okay then if you won't tell me, then I will learn. Would you like coffee, milk or o.j.?" He said while smiling.

"Guess," I replied.

"Well, you look like a coffee person with a little cream in it."

"Oh my gosh that's perfect! Good job. Now my turn, you look like a coffee person. Just black coffee, with no sugar or cream, just coffee."

"Correct. Before we move on, let's make this game a little more interesting. For every question one of us gets right, we get to kiss the other one. But for every question one of us gets wrong, the other person has to kiss them. Sound good?"

"Very," I said while blushing big time.

"Okay now fruit time. Let's see what we have. We have strawberries, bananas, pineapples and apples. Do you want strawberries and bananas?"

I replied, "Yes. You win." He gave me a kiss. "Okay, do you want apples?"

He said, "Yes. Good job, babe." I gave him a kiss.

We continued playing our little game and giving each-other quick kisses. I found out that he likes coffee, apples, waffles, banana-nut muffins and frosted flakes. At least now I know what to cook for him.

"So, can I ask you a question?" I asked Ashton as he took a sip of coffee.

Ashton replied, "Go for it."

"Where are your parents? Like do they live somewhere else or…"

He stopped and the color disappeared from his face, "Umm, my mom died five years ago and my dad died two years ago. My brother blames me for my dad's death, so that's why we don't really talk. How 'bout you?"

"My mom lives in Washington and my dad died six months ago," I said with a shaky voice.

"I'm sorry, baby." Ashton said as he started hugging me.

"Yeah. I'm sorry too," I replied.

"You should take a nap and I'll clean all this up. Really, you should."

"No. I'm fine."

"Well that's, too bad, because I am forcing you to take a nap." He picked me up and carried me to the bed. He let me go slowly and he covered me up and everything.

"Thank you," I said while already drifting to sleep.

"No problem. I'll wake you up when I think you're actually normal."

I giggled and went to sleep.


	9. Surprise!

Surprise!

"Be ready to be surprised."- Loesje

I woke up own on my own three hours later; it was noon. When I woke up, Ashton was unpacking my things into the closet and the dresser.

"W-What are you doing?" I asked while I yawned.

"Holy sh- Oh, it's you Steph. Gosh you scared me. But I'm unpacking your things. I was thinking that on weekends that you could stay here with me."

That surprised me. I didn't know anything about Ashton. For all I knew, he could be a sociopathic stalker who was planning on killing me.

"Ashton, we met yesterday. We are complete and total strangers. I don't know about this."

"Steph, I feel like I've known you my entire life. You don't feel that?"

I thought about it for a few seconds. If Trey were still here, he would be great friends with Ashton. For that reason I said, "Yeah, I do. Plus, I always like a little risk." I said that while smiling. He walked over to me and kissed me passionately. Once we finally stopped I asked, "Hey do you have a car?"

"Yeah. Why?" He said, looking confused.

"Can I borrow it?"

"What are you gonna do?"

"It's a surprise." When I saw that he still looked skeptical, I batted my long eyelashes at him and continued, "Please, Ashton?"

"Fine." He looked behind him and smiled. "My keys are in my back pocket though."

I laughed and kissed him and I reached my hand in his back pocket and I got them. I wanted to sit there and kiss him forever, but I stopped reluctantly.

As I got off the bed I said, "Thank you. I'll be back in an hour or two."

I put on my white sandals and started to walk for the door.

I walked out of the hotel and got in his car. He had a black truck which was very nice. It had leather seats and when I turned on the radio it was automatically set to the country station. I laughed to myself. _I forgot that Ashton was from Tennessee. _

I put the keys in the ignition and started to drive to the nearest grocery store. I saw a sign that said, "Target, five miles ahead." I kept driving and when I got there, I pulled in the parking lot. I got out and walked into the store.

Ashton said that he needed to go grocery shopping, so I thought I might to it for him. I walked in and started shopping.

_Okay let's see. So far I have: two cartons of eggs, a packet of bacon, milk, coffee cream, fruit, veggies, chicken, pasta, chips, hot dogs, seasonings, bread, and a lot of other things._

I finished up my shopping and went to pay. The total was two hundred and fifty dollars. I paid it and got back to the car. I went to see how much money I had left and I only had three hundred. I had to save this money for the WestWick uniforms.

I drove back to the hotel and carried the groceries to Ashton's room. When the elevator door opened to his room, he said, "What's all this?"

"You said you needed to go shopping, so I did it for you. Surprise!" I laughed and he kissed me.

"Thanks baby, but you didn't have to do that," He said while taking the bags from my hands.

I replied, "I know, but I wanted to."

We unpacked the groceries and put them up. Once we were done, he turned on the TV and went into the living room. He started digging around in his dresser.

"What are you doing?" I asked while smiling.

"I have a little surprise for you too. But, mine isn't as great as yours was," He said as he found what he was looking for. He walked over to me and told me to close my eyes and to open my hands; I did. He gave me what felt like a small key. I opened my eyes and it was a small gold key that unlocked the penthouse button in the elevator.

"So know you don't have to tell the front desk to call my room," He said as he kissed my hair.

"Thank you."

I just stared at him. It was amazing how you could feel so close to a person, yet know so little about them. I don't think I've ever felt this close to a boyfriend; not even Bryce, and that's saying something, because we were together for almost two years.

Ashton then interrupted my thoughts by saying, "Hey, did I ever tell you that my family owns a boat?"

_That was a random question._

"No."

"Well, my grandfather owns a yacht, but I barely go on that. Me and my brother, however own a sailboat. Do you want to pack a picnic and go sailing? The boat isn't that far. It's in East Falmouth," He said while holding my hands.

I wanted to say that I've never gone sailing before and had no intention to start, but it was obviously a family thing. Besides, letting him teach me something new might be fun…and if we happen to end up making out in the ocean, so be it.

I said, "Sure! But, wait I don't have a picnic basket."

"It's okay, my sister-in-law gave me one last month. I haven't used it until now, so it's basically still new."

"Cool, so I guess I'll pack it and you just-"

"No. I am packing it, you have done enough today. Let me pack it and you just relax."

He is so sweet! Bryce never offered to do anything for me. "You are the sweetest, nicest, sexiest, funniest man I have ever met," I said while hugging him.

He then shrugged and said, "Yeah I get that a lot."

I scoffed and smiled. "And did I mention that your so called charm…or wit…or whatever you call that is getting old?"

He laughed and said, "You know I'm kidding. Anyways, you are the funniest, hottest, and most thoughtful girl I have ever met."

I smiled as a way of saying thank you and sat down on the couch. I turned on the TV and noticed that _One Tree Hill_ was on. I decided to watch that while Ashton packed the picnic. It was a repeat episode of the first season; and it looked like I was at a good part. It was the boy-toy charity auction and people were bidding on Nathan.

After fifteen minutes of basically drooling over James Lafferty, Ashton was done and we headed out.

"So what did you pack?" I asked him.

"It's a surprise!"

We got in his truck and left for Falmouth. It was only a ten minute drive so we got there pretty quickly.

"Okay now if I could just find Mara Vista," Ashton said to himself.

Five minutes later we were finally there.

"Here it is," Ashton said as he parked his car on a random parking lot.


	10. Elizabeth II

Surprise!

"Be ready to be surprised."- Loesje

I woke up own on my own three hours later; it was noon. When I woke up, Ashton was unpacking my things into the closet and the dresser.

"W-What are you doing?" I asked while I yawned.

"Holy sh- Oh, it's you Steph. Gosh you scared me. But I'm unpacking your things. I was thinking that on weekends that you could stay here with me."

That surprised me. I didn't know anything about Ashton. For all I knew, he could be a sociopathic stalker who was planning on killing me.

"Ashton, we met yesterday. We are complete and total strangers. I don't know about this."

"Steph, I feel like I've known you my entire life. You don't feel that?"

I thought about it for a few seconds. If Trey were still here, he would be great friends with Ashton. For that reason I said, "Yeah, I do. Plus, I always like a little risk." I said that while smiling. He walked over to me and kissed me passionately. Once we finally stopped I asked, "Hey do you have a car?"

"Yeah. Why?" He said, looking confused.

"Can I borrow it?"

"What are you gonna do?"

"It's a surprise." When I saw that he still looked skeptical, I batted my long eyelashes at him and continued, "Please, Ashton?"

"Fine." He looked behind him and smiled. "My keys are in my back pocket though."

I laughed and kissed him and I reached my hand in his back pocket and I got them. I wanted to sit there and kiss him forever, but I stopped reluctantly.

As I got off the bed I said, "Thank you. I'll be back in an hour or two."

I put on my white sandals and started to walk for the door.

I walked out of the hotel and got in his car. He had a black truck which was very nice. It had leather seats and when I turned on the radio it was automatically set to the country station. I laughed to myself. _I forgot that Ashton was from Tennessee. _

I put the keys in the ignition and started to drive to the nearest grocery store. I saw a sign that said, "Target, five miles ahead." I kept driving and when I got there, I pulled in the parking lot. I got out and walked into the store.

Ashton said that he needed to go grocery shopping, so I thought I might to it for him. I walked in and started shopping.

_Okay let's see. So far I have: two cartons of eggs, a packet of bacon, milk, coffee cream, fruit, veggies, chicken, pasta, chips, hot dogs, seasonings, bread, and a lot of other things._

I finished up my shopping and went to pay. The total was two hundred and fifty dollars. I paid it and got back to the car. I went to see how much money I had left and I only had three hundred. I had to save this money for the WestWick uniforms.

I drove back to the hotel and carried the groceries to Ashton's room. When the elevator door opened to his room, he said, "What's all this?"

"You said you needed to go shopping, so I did it for you. Surprise!" I laughed and he kissed me.

"Thanks baby, but you didn't have to do that," He said while taking the bags from my hands.

I replied, "I know, but I wanted to."

We unpacked the groceries and put them up. Once we were done, he turned on the TV and went into the living room. He started digging around in his dresser.

"What are you doing?" I asked while smiling.

"I have a little surprise for you too. But, mine isn't as great as yours was," He said as he found what he was looking for. He walked over to me and told me to close my eyes and to open my hands; I did. He gave me what felt like a small key. I opened my eyes and it was a small gold key that unlocked the penthouse button in the elevator.

"So know you don't have to tell the front desk to call my room," He said as he kissed my hair.

"Thank you."

I just stared at him. It was amazing how you could feel so close to a person, yet know so little about them. I don't think I've ever felt this close to a boyfriend; not even Bryce, and that's saying something, because we were together for almost two years.

Ashton then interrupted my thoughts by saying, "Hey, did I ever tell you that my family owns a boat?"

_That was a random question._

"No."

"Well, my grandfather owns a yacht, but I barely go on that. Me and my brother, however own a sailboat. Do you want to pack a picnic and go sailing? The boat isn't that far. It's in East Falmouth," He said while holding my hands.

I wanted to say that I've never gone sailing before and had no intention to start, but it was obviously a family thing. Besides, letting him teach me something new might be fun…and if we happen to end up making out in the ocean, so be it.

I said, "Sure! But, wait I don't have a picnic basket."

"It's okay, my sister-in-law gave me one last month. I haven't used it until now, so it's basically still new."

"Cool, so I guess I'll pack it and you just-"

"No. I am packing it, you have done enough today. Let me pack it and you just relax."

He is so sweet! Bryce never offered to do anything for me. "You are the sweetest, nicest, sexiest, funniest man I have ever met," I said while hugging him.

He then shrugged and said, "Yeah I get that a lot."

I scoffed and smiled. "And did I mention that your so called charm…or wit…or whatever you call that is getting old?"

He laughed and said, "You know I'm kidding. Anyways, you are the funniest, hottest, and most thoughtful girl I have ever met."

I smiled as a way of saying thank you and sat down on the couch. I turned on the TV and noticed that _One Tree Hill_ was on. I decided to watch that while Ashton packed the picnic. It was a repeat episode of the first season; and it looked like I was at a good part. It was the boy-toy charity auction and people were bidding on Nathan.

After fifteen minutes of basically drooling over James Lafferty, Ashton was done and we headed out.

"So what did you pack?" I asked him.

"It's a surprise!"

We got in his truck and left for Falmouth. It was only a ten minute drive so we got there pretty quickly.

"Okay now if I could just find Mara Vista," Ashton said to himself.

Five minutes later we were finally there.

"Here it is," Ashton said as he parked his car on a random parking lot.


	11. Our First Night

Our First Night

"Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone. And do not trouble about the future for it is yet to come. Live in the present and make it so beautiful, that it will be worth remembering."-Ida Scott Taylor

I woke up in our bed and it was nine thirty. Ashton was drinking a red bull and watching _The Colbert Report_. I guess he heard me move around, because he looked at the bed and saw that I was awake.

"How did I-" I started.

He replied quietly and smoothly, "Once we got back to the hotel, I saw that you fell asleep in my truck. I picked you up and carried you up here. Then I went back down for the picnic basket and did the dishes."

"Thank you so much," I said as he walked over to me.

He sat next to me and started stroking my cheek with his finger. "Is there anything I can do for you, babe?"

"Can you start the shower for me? Please."

"No problem," He responded.

He got up and walked toward the shower. I got off the bed and walked to the couch and took a sip of his drink. Once he was out, I got in there and took a shower. I wanted to hurry up and get back to bed.

I took a ten minute shower and got dressed. I was wearing a light pink night gown that went about three inches above my knee. It had black lace at the bottom and black spaghetti straps. (All of my pajamas, bras, and undies came from Victoria's Secret, so they were all very cute.)

I walked out of the room and put the towel and my swim suit in the hamper. I sat on the couch for a little while. I laid in Ashton's lap and listened to my ipod. We laid there until ten thirty.

"Okay, I don't know about you but I am exhausted. Are you ready for bed?" he asked me as he turned off the TV.

I nodded my head and turned off my ipod.

"So what side of the bed do you sleep on?" I asked him

He laughed and said, "The right. But if you sleep on the right, then I can move to the left."

"No, I sleep on the left."

He laughed and took off his shirt and his pants. He got in the bed and so did I. He kissed me goodnight then turned off the light.

I can't believe how far I'd come. This time last week I was at home in my small twin bed with my dog snoring on top of my head. I thought that was the best it was going to get for me, but considering that I had the best date today, was living with the best guy, and had that guy next to me…I'd say that this was best. And I will savor this moment, because this is our first night together.


	12. Clint

Clint

"Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world." -George Bernard Shaw

My phone woke me up that next morning. I got a text and it said: **Hey Steph. It's me Clint, call me back l8r okay? I need 2 talk 2 you. See ya l8r, bye.**

I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. Who sends a text message at seven a.m.? Well, I guess Clint does. I looked over to make sure Ashton was still asleep. Thankfully, he was; he slept on his stomach with his face towards me. Being as quiet as I could, I got up and brushed my hair and my teeth. I walked into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee and put some bacon on the frying pan along with some eggs.

_Okay, so today is Saturday. That means I have two days until WestWick. I am so nervous, what if someone found out what happened back home? _

_No, they won't. Stop thinking like that, Jessica. No one is going to find out what happened._

A few minutes of cooking and both the eggs and bacon were done. The coffee still had fifteen minutes left though. I figured that I might as well go ahead and call Clint. I got my phone and looked for a quiet place to go. In a normal hotel room, I would just go out in the hall, but since we were in the penthouse I couldn't. As I looked around I saw the balcony for the first time. I walked outside and smelled the gorgeous Massachusetts morning air.

Once I dialed Clint's number, he picked up on the first ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me Stephanie."

"Hey! Did you get my text?" He sounded so perky and happy. How could someone be that happy at seven a.m.?

"Yeah. So, what's up?"

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today. Maybe see that movie, or hang out at the beach…"

"Umm, I'm not sure what I have planned today. Can I call you back later? Like when I know?"

"Yeah. Sure, but wait. What's your room number at your hotel?"

"Oh. I'm actually staying in the Penthouse with Ashton."

There was a pause. During our entire conversation he responded immediately and when I mention Ashton he pauses? What's up with that?

"Wait. Ashton Brown?" he sounded kind of angry.

"Yeah. Why? Do you know him?"

"Yes, I do. What are you doing with him?"

"Clint…he's my boyfriend. Listen, before you freak out and start assuming things, we aren't sleeping together. I'm just staying here until WestWick starts. Okay?"

Clint then said depressed, "Yeah. Sure, whatever. So call me later so we can hang out. Ok?"

"Sure. Okay, bye."

"Bye."

He hung up and I went back in the room. I noticed that my coffee still had ten minutes. I got my iPod out listened to some Breaking Benjamin, Simple Plan, and Tim McGraw. I paused my iPod and the coffee only had thirty seconds. I turned it off and walked into the kitchen. I got out two coffee mugs and two plates. It was now seven thirty and I figured that Ashton should be waking up soon because we both had a WestWick soccer team workout today and tomorrow at nine 'o clock. I made both of our plates and poured us each a cup of coffee.

"You made us breakfast?" Ashton said while yawning.

"Yup. I got bacon, eggs, and coffee. If you want waffles or pancakes I can make those too," I offered.

He replied, "I'm fine. Thanks though."

He got out of bed and kissed me. We both ate our breakfast and talked about soccer. I found out about soccer because, when I enrolled myself at WestWick, we had to sign up for sports. We had to give our e-mails and phone numbers in case they needed to contact us. The coach sent out an e-mail saying that we would have practice the Saturday and Sunday before school started.

My phone started ringing and it said a random number.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Hi, is this Stephanie Peterson?" he replied.

"Yes, may I help you?"

"Hi. This is Coach Brown. I am your new soccer coach."

"Hi, how are you?" I tried to sound sweet, even though I was talking to Ashton's brother. From what Ashton told me, his brother was despicable.

"I'm fine. I just wanted to tell you that practice has been moved to eight fifteen, instead of nine. I also wanted to tell you to bring a soccer ball, a jug of water, and good running shoes."

"Oh, okay. Umm, where is the practice being held and what time does it end?" I asked.

"It is on the WestWick football field. When you get to the school gate, just tell the security guard your name and he will let you pass. Practice ends at five, I know that seems like a long practice but I want the team to bond before school. I also wanted to condition you guys before the season actually starts. See you in forty five minutes."

He then hung up. Wow, a nine hour practice. I sure hope lunch was included.

"Who was that?" Ashton asked.

"It was your brother. He said he changed the practice time from nine to eight fifteen and he also said that it ends at five."

"Wow. Where is y'alls practice?"

"The WestWick football field. How about yours?"

"The gym at WestWick. It's a fifteen minute drive and I want to get you there five minutes early. So let's leave in about twenty minutes. Is that okay?"

"You don't have to drive me, sweetie. I can just take a taxi or-"

"No. I want to drive you. Plus, I need to talk to my brother."

I was confused. He hated his brother with a burning passion. "About what?"

"About things," He said sternly.

"Okay then."

By the time I finished my breakfast, I only had ten minutes to get dressed, brush my teeth, put my hair up, and get my soccer bag ready.

"I'm gonna go ahead and get dressed. Will you get my soccer bag ready please?" I asked Ashton.

"Yeah, sure," Ashton replied.

I put on my sports bra and my white, sports tank-top. I couldn't find my soccer shorts so I just put on black soffee shorts. I put my hair up in a high pony tail and put on a white sports headband. I walked out to the living room and Ashton had my soccer ball and a huge water jug in my bag. I finished just in time, we had one minute left.

"You ready?" he asked me.

"Yup," I replied.

We got in his car and drove off to WestWick.


	13. Soccer Practice

Soccer Practice

"Soccer is not about justice. It is not just a sport. It is a drama."- Pete Davies

"Name?" The security guard asked as we pulled up to the WestWick Academy gate.

"Stephanie Peterson," I replied.

He looked through a notebook full of names and put a check on mine. "Okay, go on through."

WestWick looked so vast and so amazing. There was a giant fountain in the very center of the campus. There were a lot of buildings, but I would learn what they were in two days. There was a sign that read, "Gym, Football Field, and Track" with an arrow pointing left. We went left and there were already five girls there with Coach Brown.

Coach Brown looked mostly the same as Ashton, expect an older version. He had short, dark brown hair, dark blue eyes, and pearl white teeth. He was also very tall. He was wearing a gray t-shirt and black soccer shorts with a whistle around his neck.

We walked into the field and we kissed each other good-bye. I think Coach Brown saw us, but I hope not. I went to go talk to him and Ashton just stayed there.

"Hi Coach Brown, I'm Stephanie Peterson," I said to him. I shook his hand.

He replied, "Hi Stephanie. I'm looking forward to being with you this year. The other girls are stretching, you should go and join them."

I walked over there and I recognized Kelsey. She was wearing a red sports bra and black soccer shorts. Her blonde hair was in a high, messy bun and her side-bangs were pulled back.

"Hey Steph, it's me, Kelsey. We met on the train," Kelsey said.

"Yeah. I remember. I didn't know that you play soccer."

"Yeah. Here let me introduce you to the girls. This is Amy, Brittney, Jen, and Courtney."

She said Jen and Courtney like she hated them. Amy was very pretty. She was wearing a blue sports tank-top and white soffee shorts. She had light brown hair and blue eyes. She was also very pale, but it looked really good on her.

Brittney wasn't that pretty, but she wasn't hideous. She had strawberry blonde hair and some freckles on her nose and under her eyes. She had amazing eyes. They were green with little dots of blue. She was thin and was wearing a black tank top- with white soccer shorts. _I would love to do a makeover on her. She would be so pretty!_

"Hey," Amy said with a smile.

"What's up?" Brittney said.

"Hey, nothing much," I replied.

I looked over at Jen and Courtney. They scoffed and rolled their eyes. Jen was very pretty, like model material. She had long, light blonde hair and gorgeous dark blue eyes. She was wearing a Pink sports bar and black spandex that were very tight and were very short. Even in soccer practice she was wearing mascara, pink eye shadow, eye liner and blush.

Courtney was the prettiest girl I have ever laid eyes on; she looked like a Victoria's Secret model. She was tan, but not too tan and was a true brunette. She had big, dark brown eyes with long, brown eyelashes. She was wearing a tight, purple sports bra and tight, short, black shorts. She was wearing a lot of make-up too.

"Hey, Newbie. My name is Courtney and if you play your cards right, then you could end up with us," Courtney said with a mischievous smile.

"But of course you would have to ditch those losers," Jen finished Courtney's sentence.

Amy, Brittney, and Kelsey laughed and walked away. I looked over and Ashton and his brother were arguing. I saw Ashton walk away to leave his brother there, alone. I turned around to face Courtney and Jen.

"No thanks. I don't think I would want to hang out with people who make me gag every time I look at them. I don't think I want to throw up every single day. How do you it handle Jen?" I said.

"Excuse me?" Courtney said, appalled.

I ignored her and sat down with Amy and Britt. They laughed as Courtney said, "You just made the biggest mistake of your life."

I replied sarcastically, "I'm sure I did."

Within the next ten minutes, more girls arrived. Once everyone was here, I counted the girls and there were sixteen people on the team including me.

Coach Brown walked up to all of us and said, "Okay ladies, look around. These will be your teammates for the next six months and if we go onto nationals then the rest of the year. From now on you are on my team, playing by my rules. Let's go over those rules. If you fail a class then you will be on probation and if you can't bring that grade up, then you will be dismissed from the team. If you get a detention then you will be assigned a condition practice with me and you will be running extra miles during practices. I will give you a schedule of our practices, games, and meetings for the next month. Each day we either have soccer practice or a conditioning practice. It might be before or after school. On some days we might have practice before and after school. Any questions?"

He looked around for anybody. Nobody spoke. He spoke again, "Good. Let's get started. Everybody run five laps around the football field you have eight minutes and if anybody walks you will all be running suicides and then starting over." He blew his whistle and we all started running.

Oh gosh, I haven't worked out all summer. I was meaning to run at least twice a week, but I never got around to it. I looked behind me and I was almost first. How was that even possible? Either I wasn't as out of shape as I thought I was or the whole team was out of shape. I looked in front of me and the only person I saw was Courtney. I started sprinting and I caught up to her and past her.

"You're getting kind of slow Courtney," I said as I ran past her.

She replied angrily, "Shut up!"

I finished my first two laps in a breeze. I even lapped some people. Since I only had three more to go, I sprinted two of them and jogged my last one. To my surprise, I finished first.

"Good job, Stephanie. You can get some water," Coach Brown said.

"Thanks," I replied out of breath.

I got into my soccer bag and I took a big gulp of water. I noticed that Courtney finished second followed by a girl I didn't know, Kelsey, Amy, Jen, and Brittney. Once everyone was done running, Coach Brown stood up.

He said, "I made you guys run a mile because I wanted to test your endurance and see how good it is. Some of y'all have very good endurance, but others need work. Now, get in a line with Stephanie first and Courtney last. Do bear-crawls for two laps. All of you keep up with Stephanie." He blew his whistle and made us go.

After the first lap, my legs were burning. I wanted to stop but I knew that I couldn't. I hurried up and did my two laps. After that he made us crab-walk for three laps, in a line again with me first. He then made us do high-knees, butt kicks and back-pedal two laps each. Once we were done with that he let us have another water break.

Coach Brown started, "You girls can still keep drinking water, just listen-"

"Are we actually going to be using the ball anytime soon?" Courtney said to Coach Brown.

"Okay. Everybody up and do fifty leg ups. We were going to do ball drills, but thanks to Courtney's lovely comment we are not anymore. Now go!" Coach Brown yelled.

Everyone groaned and moaned. "Okay now one hundred!" Coach Brown yelled.

Nobody dared to make a noise. We all got on our backs and did the leg-ups. He then made us hold our legs three inches above the ground for a minute at a time for five times. On our next water break I looked at my watch and it was only ten 'o clock.

OMG! We have only been here for an hour and a half! It feels like five hours.

"Okay ladies listen up! We are now going to the gym. Now the boys' soccer team is in there working out, so just stay on task. If anyone talks to any boys or kisses anyone then we will all come back here and keep doing these fun workouts. You can leave your bags here, because we will be coming back. Just grab your water and follow me." Coach Brown said.

I was so hot I took off my shirt and threw it in my bag. I was wearing a white sports bar under it so it was fine. I grabbed my water and went to the gym. When we walked in there, I noticed all the men were shirtless and sweaty. I found Ashton lifting weights. He found me too and winked at me. I smiled and followed the group. I was too tired to blush or to wink back.

"Okay listen up! I am going to give you a number, just remember your own number for now." Coach Brown said.

He gave me a three. I saw that there were different workout stations and they were numbered. I looked for three and on station three was the treadmill. _Great…more running._

Coach Brown started talking again, "Okay so as you can see, there are different stations with different numbers. So go to your station and do that workout. There are two people per station. The guys have two soccer coaches, and they said they would help you. So, if you have the treadmill or weights, wait for one of them to watch you and tell you what to do. I will be watching the jump-rope people. Once I blow the whistle then you go to the next station. So if you have eight, you go to one, if you have one you go to two. Okay get to it!"

I went to station three and my partner was Courtney. Could this day get any worse?

"Hey, whore, what's up?" Courtney said.

"Hey there's no need to be hostile, but then again, I would be too if all the team hated me."

"Shut up!"

I laughed and one of the coaches walked up.

"Hello, my name is Coach Dunn."

"Hi," Courtney and I said at the same time.

"Okay get on a treadmill and set the speed for five point zero miles," Coach Dunn said.

We both did and that was a slight jog. We did that for five minutes. Every once in a while I would glance at Courtney. Okay, so I've only known her for about two hours and I already hate her. If she keeps calling me a whore, then I swear she'll have an actual reason to call me a whore.

"Bump it up to eight point zero," Coach Dunn said.

That was a sprint. I grabbed the handle but he jerked it away and yelled, "Hands up!"

We continued the cycle between five and eight. He later made us stay at eight. Fifteen minutes later, Coach Brown blew the whistle. I stopped the treadmill and I got a drink of water. I walked over to the next station. The piece of paper read: **Station 4, squats. Do squats until Coach Brown blows the whistle.**

He blew the whistle for us to start. Me and Courtney started doing squats. Another fifteen minutes past and he blew the whistle. I counted and I did three hundred squats during that time.

"Okay, this is ridiculous even for him," I heard Courtney say.

"What?" I replied.

"Coach Brown is normally harsh, but he is never this bad the first day. He normally gets like this towards the middle of the season."

If he's like this now, then what are we going to be doing three months from now? Running five miles as a warm up instead of one? Have a nineteen hour practice instead of nine hours?

We walked to station five and had to do wall sits. Next was lunges, then squat jumps, then leg ups. Next up was jump-rope. Coach Brown was here, great. He made us do two jumps in each swing then just one. We basically just did that for the rest of the time.

_Okay we only have two more stations, I can do this. For the next two stations, I just have to do leg weights._

When everyone did all of the stations Coach Brown said, "Good job everybody! It is now noon and you may eat lunch in the cafeteria. They have made salad and healthy sandwiches. Meet me back here in an hour. You may go."

I walked to the cafeteria with Kelsey and Amy. Once I got inside I noticed that it was huge. There were two levels in the cafeteria, and tables everywhere. I saw Ashton sitting alone. I started to go walk to him but Kelsey stopped me.

"Aren't you going to eat with us?" she said.

"I'm actually going to sit with my boyfriend." I replied.

"You have a boyfriend! Who is it! Is he hot! Where did you meet! Who is it!"

I laughed and said, "It's Ashton Brown."

Her mouth dropped. "You're dating Ashton? He is _so _hot! You two do make a really cute couple though!" She looked at Ashton and continued, "I am so jealous."

I laughed and said, "Bye."

I walked over to Ashton and sat across from him.

"Hey, gorgeous." He said.

"Hey, baby." I replied.

We kissed and hugged. We got in line together to get our food then sat back down.

"So, how was your workout?" Ashton asked me.

"Hard." I laughed. "How was yours?" I asked.

"Good. We mainly lifted weights and did arm workouts."

"Lucky. We ran a lot, did lunges, bear crawls, leg lifts, squats, squat jumps, wall sits, the three inch leg hold thing, and ran a lot," I said.

"Ouch. I'm sorry babe," He said.

"It's fine. But thanks to your brother, I am very sweaty and gross and unattractive," I smiled and laughed.

"I think you look very sexy, especially in your sports bra." He said.

I laughed. "You also look very sexy, especially since you're shirtless."

We then kissed for like five minutes. After our mini make-out session, we finished eating. I still had forty minutes until I had to get back.

"When do you have to get back?" I asked.

"At one. Y'all?"

"Same," I said.

I gave him a smile, and he knew exactly what I meant. We got up and went to the second level of the cafeteria. It was completely empty. We found ourselves a table in the corner by the door. Ashton and I sat next to each other and started kissing.

Our bodies touched as he kissed my hair, ear, mouth, chin, neck, and arm. He made his way back up again. He kept his hands around my waist. I ran my fingers through his hair, down his back and across his chest. I kissed the top of his chest and his neck. Whenever he kissed me, he sent shivers down my spine and gave me goose bumps.

He stopped for a brief second and looked me in the eye. That was the moment I truly fell in love with him. Not just because of the sexual stuff, but because Ashton and I have done more stuff together in two days than Bryce and I did in a week. I could tell that he cared about me and wanted to be with me, and I felt the same exact way. I just hope he loves me too.

"Stephanie. I love you," Ashton said slowly. I then knew that he felt the same way.

"I love you too, Ashton," I replied.

Then we continued kissing. It wasn't fierce, it was smooth and nice. I got on his lap and wrapped my legs around him. I started to kiss his chest, but then I saw the cafeteria clock.

"Ashton. We have to go. It's almost one." I said.

"Who cares?" he continued kissing my neck.

I laughed and got up. After I helped him get up, I looked him in the eye, put my hands on his face, and said, "We can finish this tonight. Okay?"

"Okay," Ashton said.

I closed my eyes and leaned forward to where our noses touched. We then slowly moved in for one last good, passionate kiss. After that, I had to sprint back to the gym to make it there on time.

Coach Brown started, "Okay now that everybody is here, we will start our next half of the day. This next half will be focusing on arms. Does everyone remember the number I gave you?" We all nodded. "Good, now if you were an even number then start push-ups. If you were an odd number start pull-ups."

He told us to do as many pull-ups as we could and I did twenty five. For the rest of the time, we just did pull-ups, push-ups, lifted weights, did quick feet, and ran ten laps around the track. After all of that, it was finally five 'o clock.

"Alright ladies, it is five 'o clock and before you go, I just have a few announcements. Now I know you are sweaty and exhausted. Tomorrow we will be doing only a little conditioning and a lot of soccer. You will try out for positions and I will assign them. You are free to go," Coach Brown said.


	14. Not Ready

Not Ready

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."- Christopher Reeve.

I picked up my bag and was headed for the parking lot. I saw Ashton waiting for me by his truck. Once I was there he kissed me and we got in. I got out my phone and texted Clint, I said: **hey clint wats up? I wanted to tell u that I had soccer practice 2day…I am sooooooooooo tired so maybe we can hang out on Monday after skool or something. So yeah…im really sorry.**

I sent it and Ashton looked over at me and said, "Who was that?"

"It was my boyfriend," I said kiddingly.

"Seriously, who was it?" Ashton asked.

I laughed and said, "Calm down it's only Clint."

"Clint?"

"Yeah, you know the really cute senior from England," I said with a smile.

"Okay, if you want to play that game, I'll play it. I saw his sister running in your soccer practice and she looked so hot. The sweaty look really looks good on her," He said with a teasing smile.

"His sister? He doesn't have a sister," I said confused.

"His sister is Kelsey."

"Kelsey?" I was surprised. Well now that I think about it they both have blonde hair and they both have British accents. I guess it makes sense.

"Yeah, you know the really hot blonde from England," He said mockingly.

"Wow, you are very funny, you know that?" I said sarcastically.

"That's what they tell me. I guess it's just part of my charm."

I ignored his comment and got out my iPod. When we got back into the hotel, the first thing I did was take a shower. I took a thirty minute shower to get all the sweat and dirt off of me. I felt so much better afterwards. I slipped into my green silk pants and my white tank-top. It was now six 'o clock and I was starving. I didn't want to cook or go out so I ordered room service for me and Ashton. I wanted to pay for it, but he, being the gentlemen that he is, insisted on paying for it. I got two slices of cheese pizza and a side bowl of fruit. Ashton got a bowl of tomato soup and crackers.

I looked over at Ashton and he was staring at me, smiling.

"What?" I said.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about earlier. I can't wait for tonight," Ashton said.

I tried to remember what he was talking about. Then I did remember. I remembered the kissing.

I took a deep breath and told him, "That was very, very nice. But, I don't think I'm ready for that big of a step. I know I almost did back in the cafeteria, but I think I just missed you. I mean, we're in high school and I don't want to do anything that either of us will regret."

He looked surprised at first. Then the surprise turned into sadness, then the sadness into understanding.

"Oh. It's fine. I don't want you to do anything you're not ready to do." He smiled and continued talking, "Whoa, hang on a minute. You're telling me that you've never done that before, like ever?" He said kiddingly.

"Shut up. But, thank you for understanding," I said.

"I'm just kidding. I just think I should tell you, that you are an amazing kisser though. You're like the best kisser that has ever kissed me," He said, looking me in the eye.

"You too." I blushed and looked away. He pulled my face to face him and kissed me. He only kissed my lips because of what I said. Once he stopped, he looked me in the eye.

"Thanks," He said.

I smiled and right then my phone beeped. It kept saying, "You have picture mail". I opened it up and it was me in Ashton's lap in the cafeteria. He was kissing my neck while I kissed his ear. Under the picture it said:

**Hey Jess whats up! I didn't know you could be so naughty! Now if you don't want me to show this to Coach Brown and the Director part of him, you will do exactly this: kiss Clint by Tuesday. If you don't do this, than I will send this to everyone at school and then go to the police and tell them who you really are. Oh, and 1 more thing…don't show Ashton this. You'll hear from me soon!**

I deleted the picture and the text message.

_Who is this person? If they took a picture of me and Ashton then it must be someone on the team, but who? How could they expect me to kiss Clint when I'm in love with Ashton? I hate this person! _

"Steph? Are you okay? What's wrong? Who was that?" Ashton asked worried.

I looked at him dully and lied, "Huh? Oh, it was just my cousin."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I think, I'm just going to go bed. Goodnight." I said. My voice was shaky and all I wanted to do was cry. He reached for me and kissed me. I went to bed and it only took me five minutes to go to sleep.


	15. Michael the Stalker

Michael the Stalker

"Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions."-Edgar Cayce

As I sat on the couch watching TV Sunday afternoon, I felt like something was missing. Something _was_ missing, but I couldn't quite place it. Just then I felt someone sneaking up on me. He was about to attack, I could feel it. As he put his hands on me, I screamed and turned around. All I saw was Ashton smiling with his hands up.

"Gosh, don't do that to me," I said angrily.

He walked over to the other side of the couch and sat down by me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said while laughing.

I then randomly blurted out, "Do you ever feel like something is missing? Because I feel that way right now."

He looked confused. "Well I think I can fill that void."

He leaned in for a kiss. Even though it wasn't what I was looking for, it worked…for a little bit. The kissing was soft and gentle for about thirty seconds. After that, it got aggressive. I laid down on the couch as Ashton got on top of me. He stopped kissing me while he took off his red undershirt. He started to take off mine and I decided to let him. I mean, since we made out in my sports bra while he was shirtless, I figured it was basically the same thing. Things were almost perfect until he started to unbutton my jeans.

"Ashton, stop. I'm not ready for this."

"Oh, come on. You won't be seventeen forever." He kissed my cheek lightly and continued, "All you have to do is answer your phone." He stroked my face. "Just answer your phone, baby."

Answer my phone? Was he high or something? What the hell was he talking about?

When he spoke again, he sounded irritated. "Answer your phone. Stephanie, answer your phone!"

That's when I woke up to my ring tone, _Seventeen Forever_ by Metro Station and Ashton shaking me and telling me to answer my phone. I reached for my phone and with my eyes still closed, answered it.

"Hello?" I said tiredly.

"Hi Stephanie, this is Director Brown. I wanted to tell you that practice has been canceled."

"Oh, okay, well thanks for the call."

"Also, I wanted to talk to a people about certain things. Can you meet me around nine thirty in my office?"

"Umm…sure." I paused for a few seconds. "Where exactly is your office?"

"It is in the Administration Building on the third floor."

"Okay, I'll see you then."

I started to hang up, but I still heard his voice. "Oh, and Stephanie?"

"Yes?"

"Bring Ashton with you."

Wait. Did he say something about Ashton? How did he know about us? Did someone tell him?

I didn't really know what to say, so I sort of babbled, "Umm…I…I umm-"

"Goodbye Stephanie."

He then hung up. How could he know? What could he want to talk to me about?

I pulled the covers over my head and let out a loud groan. When everything is going great I always get bad news. Why am I such a S.O.L.? After a few seconds of my apparent self pity, Ashton pulled back the covers.

"Okay so I've got three questions. Number one: why do you have such a crappy ring tone?"

I finally opened my eyes to look at Ashton and when I did, I started cracking up. His normally beautiful hair was very messed up; he had eye crusties and dried drool on his lip. Because of all those things, it was extremely evident that he just woke up. I mean, I'm sure that I don't look like an angel right now, but I prayed that I didn't look like that.

"What's so funny?" Ashton asked, obviously confused and tired.

I stopped laughing and gripped his muscular, semi tan arm and said, "Nothing. So anyways what were you saying?"

"Why is that awful song as your ring tone? Is it supposed to be a joke or are you just seriously tone deaf?"

I nudged him in the stomach with my elbow and said, "When I turned seventeen I bought that as my ring tone. I do admit that it's not the best song, but I used to think it was the coolest." I started laughing. "When I turned sixteen I bought _Sweet Sixteen_ by Hilary Duff. Imagine listening to that for three hundred sixty five days."

"That's weird, but whatever." I smacked him and he laughed. "Question Two: What were you just dreaming?"

I answered that right away, "Why?"

"Because you were sleep talking and you said, 'Ashton, stop. I'm not ready for this yet.'"

"Do you seriously want to know?" Once he nodded I continued, "I had a dream that you wanted to sleep with me, even though I told you I wasn't ready."

Ashton's eyebrow's pulled together in either shock or confusion. He stared at me for a long time before he spoke again. "Baby, you know that I would _never_ pressure you to do anything, right?"

"I know," I replied honestly. I gave him a smile and said, "What's your third question?"

"Who called you?"

"It was your brother. He wants to talk to both of us at nine thirty in his office."

The color from his face dropped. "About what?" he asked.

"I don't know, but he knows about us Ashton. What if he-"

"What could he do?"

"I don't know, but-"

"Look, how about you get dressed and I'll make us some breakfast? Ok? Sound good?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

We both got up and got dressed. I picked out a denim skirt and a nice sleeveless pink shirt. I quickly straightened my hair and put it in a high ponytail. When I was done, Ashton had already finished breakfast. He made us pancakes, eggs, sausages and coffee.

"You look nice," I said to him. He did look nice; he was wearing a white button down shirt with nice jeans. I looked down to see his shoes. Of course, he was wearing boots. And it looked like he shaved and put a comb through his hair.

"So do you," He said while coming over to kiss me.

Once we were done eating he said, "So, I was thinking maybe after our talk with my brother, we can go uniform shopping."

"Okay. Wait, what are the uniforms?"

"Well, for the lovely ladies," I smiled, "it is a white oxford shirt and a navy blue skirt. For us masculine men, it is a white long sleeve button down oxford shirt, a navy blue sports coat, khaki pants, and a white and blue striped tie."

"Wow."

_Fantastic, I get to be a part of the perfect private school cliché uniform. All I have to do is figure out how I can make it look cute…_

He laughed and smiled. "Yeah, I know."

I looked at the clock and it read nine fifteen.

"Ashton, we need to go."

"Crap, your right."

We arrived at WestWick right on time. We found his office and got in there. Director Brown was talking with Courtney, Jen, Amy, Kelsey, and a few guys. Courtney looked at me said, "Great, more trash."

Director Brown replied, "Courtney, do you want _more_ detention?" Courtney rolled her eyes and shook her head. He then continued, "Then I suggest you stop talking now." He turned to face me and Ashton, "Stephanie, Ashton, have a seat." He sounded firm and annoyed.

He continued, "Now that everyone is here we can get started. You are all here in my office for two reasons. One is that I am the Dean of students for all of the juniors, so when one of the juniors gets into trouble they get sent in my office. Second, is that all of you got into trouble somehow over the summer. I know what you are thinking, and yes I do check-"

"Okay, I don't even know what Courtney and I are doing here. We didn't do anything wrong," Jen interrupted.

"Lying won't help your case, Miss Sterling. Now as I was saying, I will tell each of you how many weeks or months of detention you get. Courtney, Jen, Matt, and Jeff you all have detention for three weeks. Kelsey you have detention for one week. Stephanie and Ashton you have detention for a month. The rest of you have it for two months. For those of you who are new, detention is held in Director Collins' room from three fifteen to four forty five. Does anybody have any questions?"

Nobody said anything. "Okay, now don't forget the orientation this afternoon at noon. Everyone is dismissed expect for Ashton and Stephanie.

Once everybody left I had a few questions to ask him, "Director Brown, when does detention start?"

He replied, "Tomorrow."

My mouth fell open. It started tomorrow? Tomorrow was the first day of school. What if we had homework? Come on, surely as a teacher and a coach, he should understand the importance of the first day of school.

"But tomorrow is the first day of school-"

"Yes, I am well aware of that," he said.

Ashton cut in, "Seriously, Michael? Just stop. She just asked you a simple question. You didn't have to be all crappy about it."

It was sweet of Ashton to defend me like that. He really shouldn't have-wait a second. Director Brown's name is Michael? Ha-ha. Now that is funny.

Director Brown looked genuinely pissed now. He replied, "One- that is Director Brown to you. Two- you just earned yourself an extra week of detention. Three- I wouldn't have to be so crappy if you two weren't in jail two days ago-"

I interrupted, "Hey, that wasn't Ashton's fault. I was being careless Thursday night and I had a few drinks. So what? Somehow, the police found out and took me in. It was no big deal."

He raised his eyebrows at me and said, "Oh really? It was no big deal? Let me get this straight, so you didn't assault an officer? You didn't resist arrest? You didn't have _seven_ martinis? You didn't lie to the police?"

Ashton stepped in front of me and said, "Okay she gets the point. Can we go now?"

"No you may not. Do you two understand the kind of trouble you two are in? If y'all get into any kind of trouble, you'll be in jail for at least a month!" Director Brown yelled.

How did he know that? Was he following Ashton now? Well, it makes sense. He somehow knew that we were together and he knew about the jail thing.

"How did you even know about that?"

"Officer Watson came by and talked to me. I told him that I would be watching you two, and I _will_ be watching."

_I guess that answer's my question about the whole following thing… _

He continued, "I have no problem telling him anything y'all do wrong." He sighed. "You can go now."


	16. No Lingerie

No Lingerie

"The courage of life is a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he must, in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures. And that is the basis of all morality."-JFK

As we walked back to Ashton's truck I said, "Ashton, I am so sorry that I got you into the middle of this."

He turned to look at me and smiled, "It's not your fault, Steph."

We got into his truck and he kissed me sweetly. I then asked, "So, now what do we do? Didn't he mention an orientation at twelve or something?"

He nodded and replied, "Well, it's not really an orientation. We get our dorms and we move in today. Then, after we unpack we have a meeting with all of our teachers," he glanced at his watch, "and since it's only nine forty five, we have about two and a half hours. We should go pack up our things at the hotel."

"Yeah, okay."

About half way through the car ride, my phone beeped, indicating that I have a text. It was from Clint:

**Hey Stephanie. I just wanted 2 say that I cant wait till noon (that's when I get 2 see u) I also wanted 2 introduce u 2 my family. Like I said I have 2 older brothers and one younger sister. See u then.**

I smiled to myself as I closed my phone. Clint was amazing. I had a really good feeling that Clint and I would be really close friends. Well, we would be if my kiss didn't ruin our friendship. I can't believe that someone knew my secret and she/he was making me kiss Clint! How could they do this to me?

I guess I was getting upset and Ashton could tell because he said, "You okay, babe?"

I just nodded.

We pulled in the hotel parking lot and as we walked to our room I said to him, "I'm going to miss this. You know, us walking to our hotel room and making each other breakfast in the mornings."

He smiled and said, "Well, we get to stay here over the weekends."

I was confused. "We do?"

"Yeah, they do that every year so I'm assuming that we'll be able to this year. As long as you live within half an hour of the school they let you go home over the weekends."

"Well good," I said while smiling.

We walked to our room and started to pack up our things. "So, what should I pack?" I asked.

"Just pack everything, then once we come back here next weekend you can decide what you want to bring and what you want to leave up at WestWick."

I got my suitcases and my bags. I packed up my straitening iron, curling iron, tooth brush, hair brush, all of my sports things, all of my hair accessories, my CoverGirl makeup, and most of my clothes.


	17. Orientation

Orientation

"It's easier to see what we want, than to look for the truth."- Anonymous

"Where do we go first?" I asked as we got out of Ashton's truck.

"We should go to the Administration Building to get our dorm assignments and our schedules."

As we walked to the Administration Building I looked around at the campus. It was beautiful. There was a lot of color. There were massive amounts of trees, which was green. Tons of beautiful flowers, which were pink, red, yellow, blue, and purple. There were fountains, statues, and a lot of people. I saw a lot of guys checking out the girls and a lot of girls checking out the guys. I saw a lot of people hugging each other asking them how their summer was. I saw couples being reunited by kissing and hugging. I saw friends comparing schedules and dorm assignments.

Once we got to the Administration Building there were four tables. One said: **Freshmen**. Another said: **Sophomores**. Another table said: **Juniors**. And the last table said: **SENIORS! **

Ashton and I walked over to the juniors table. There was a huge line of people. I saw Kelsey and Amy up front talking to each-other. Kelsey saw me and waved me and Ashton up front. I mouthed to her, "Are you sure?"

She nodded her head. Ashton and I made our way through the moans and groans of the crowd. Now, instead of being close to last we were close to first.

"Hey, Stephanie, what's up? How are you liking WestWick?" Kelsey asked me.

"I love the campus. It's pretty amazing."

I looked over at Amy and she was checking out Ashton.

"Hey, Ash, how's it going?" Amy asked him.

"Fine," He replied dully.

"How was your summer?" Amy asked him.

"Average," He replied. I noticed both times he replied, he didn't look at her. Then, Amy rubbed her arm next to his. He scoffed and moved it away from hers. Ashton got by me and held my hand. I could tell something was up, but I didn't want to bring it up now. I would ask Kelsey about it later.

Once it was my turn in line, I walked up to the desk and saw a young lady waiting for me.

She said, "Hello and welcome to WestWick Academy. Name?"

"Stephanie Peterson."

She looked something up on her computer and printed something out. She then got out a big, thick file that said: _Girls_, on the front. She pulled out two things.

She handed me those things and said, "Here is your class schedule and dorm assignment. Now, are you a returning student or a new student?"

"New."

She then got out a map and circled a lot of places. She handed the map to me and said, "Here is a map of WestWick and all the buildings here. I circled where your classes are and where your dorm is. Once you get to your dorm, your dorm advisor will tell you where to go next."

"Thank you."

She then smiled a big smile and said, "Welcome to WestWick and have a great year!"

Ok, that lady was a little too perky for my taste. Anyways, I looked over my dorm assignment first. I was in room 217 in Wells Hall. I guess I won't know who I'm sharing a dorm with until I get there.

I then looked at my schedule. It read:

_Stephanie Peterson; Junior WestWick_

_Period 1: Soccer. Time-8:05-8:55 Instructor: Director Brown (Mr.)_

_Period 2: Health. Time-8:58-9:38 Instructor: Director Moore (Mr.)_

_Period 3: Choir. Time-9:41-10:21 Instructor: Director Wood (Mrs.)_

_Period 4: US History Time-10:24-11:04 Instructor: Director Shay (Mrs.)_

_Period 5: Pre Calculus Time-11:07-11:47 Instructor: Director Gibson (Mr.)_

_Lunch Time- 11:50-12:30_

_Period 6: English Lit. Time- 12:33-1:13 Instructor: Director Brown (Mr.)_

_Period 7: Physics Time-1:16-1:26 Instructor: Director Adams (Mrs.)_

_Period 8: Dance Time-1:29-2:09 Instructor: Director Hughes (Mrs.)_

_Period 9: Foreigns Time-2:12-3:05 Instructor: Director Collins (Mr.) _

I looked over it and it seemed like a pretty good schedule. I have no idea what class _foreigns _is though. I looked back and Ashton was just leaving that perky little lady.

He walked over to me, "Hey, babe. How do you like your schedule?" he asked me.

I replied, "It looks pretty good. I got all of the electives I wanted. Hey I have a question, what is _foreigns_?"

He laughed and smiled that bright smile I loved. He then said, "Everyone always asks that. _Foreigns _is a class where we learn different languages. One month we might be studying Italian, and the next month maybe French."

"Hmm."

We compared schedules and we found out that we only have three classes together. "Hey what hall are you in? You know, for your dorm?" he asked me.

I looked down at my piece of paper. It read _Wells._ "Wells Hall. Is that a good one?"

He raised his eyebrows at me and said, "Are you serious? It's one of the best girls dorms on campus. Sadly, I am stuck in Hastings."

"Is that a bad dorm or something?"

He laughed and said, "Yeah, it is," He checked his watch and his eyebrows shot up. "It's already twelve ten. We should get to our own dorms and then we'll meet up when the actual orientation starts. Sound good?"

"Yeah," I said. I said that even though I have no idea where to go…at all.

Just then Kelsey walked besides me and Ashton. She said, "Hey, Ashton. I'll show Stephanie to her dorm."

He smiled and said, "Ok, thanks. Be sure to take care of my girl."

I loved it when he said things like that.

Kelsey smiled and rolled her eyes. "I will," She said.

"Good," Ashton said. He then turned to me, "You're in good hands. I'll see you later, babe." He then gave me a quick kiss then left.

Just then I heard someone call my name. I turned around to see Clint. There were two older men in front of him. I was guessing those were his brothers.

Clint started the conversation, "Hey, Stephanie. These are my two older brothers I was telling you about earlier." He turned to face them. He made a hand gesture to one of them, "This is my oldest brother, Blake."

Blake looked a little different than Clint and Kelsey. Unlike Clint, Blake had long dark curly hair. He had the same beautiful blue eyes as Clint though. Blake was very tall and he looked like he was in his late twenties. He had a good sense of style just like the rest of his family. He was wearing a long sleeved dark green shirt with black jeans. The shirt wasn't a fancy shirt, but it certainly wasn't as casual as some other shirts.

Blake smiled and said, "Oh. So, you're Stephanie. I can see why my brother has been acting a bit weird lately." I could tell he was from England too. His accent was very thick.

Clint cleared his throat and surreptitiously nudged him. What did he mean when he said, 'I can see why my brother has been acting weird?' What did that mean? Did he like me? He knows that Ashton and I are together though.

I didn't know what to say so I just smiled and said, "Oh, well Clint and I are just friends."

Blake laughed and then said, "I guess my baby brother just has to try harder then."

_Wow. This isn't awkward at all…_

Apparently Clint thought the same thing. So, after what seemed like minutes of silence Clint said, "Yeah. So," he made a hand gesture to a different man. "This is my other idiotic brother-"

His other brother interrupted, "The name's Ian. Ian Hawes."

I stopped to look at Ian and he did look like Clint and Kelsey. He had short dark blonde hair and greenish eyes. He wasn't tall, but he was by no means short. He also could dress nice. He was wearing a suit with a dark blue tie.

He continued, "I am one of the middle children in the Hawes family. It is nice to finally meet you. We have heard so much-"

Then Kelsey interrupted, "Ok, boys. Let's be mature and not embarrass Clint here." Clint looked so thankful. She looked towards me, "Are you ready to go, or would you rather hang out with the moronic duo some more?"

Clint answered for me, "Actually, I think Blake and Ian have to go now."

Blake and Ian laughed. Blake then said, "Clint if you wanted us to leave you could have just asked. But, we can take a hint."

"Yes we can," Ian interrupted. He turned to me, "We should all hang out some time soon."

"Very soon," Blake said.

I had no idea what to say, so I just awkwardly stood there and said, "Whenever Clint wants to."

"Or if Clint wants to," Clint muttered.

After Blake and Ian left, Clint headed to his dorm room. It turned out that Kelsey and I were roommates.

Once we got to our room, the first thing I thought was that I am going to love it. It has huge and it had its own bathroom with a shower! Normally dorms had only one bathroom at the end of a hall. There were two beds, one on each side of the room. They were the kinds of beds where it was a bunk bed at the top, but instead of a bed at the bottom it was a desk. There were two closets and the closets were walk-in closets. I had a feeling that I was going to adore WestWick Academy and all of its pleasures.

"So, which bed would you like?" Kelsey asked me.

I replied, "Whichever one you don't want."

"No. This is your first year here. This is my third year; I have gotten to pick plenty of times."

That was really sweet of her. She was probably the best friend I have ever had. Well, excluding Karen and Trey she was. But I won't allow myself to think about them.

"I guess I will take the bed on the right side, if you don't mind."

She smiled and said, "I don't mind at all."

I looked around the room and I couldn't help but smile. One year ago I thought I would be behind bars right now. Somehow though, I got it together and covered my tracks. Now nobody knows what I did. Expect for one person, but I can take care of him if I have to.

I dropped my luggage on top of my bed. I turned to face Kelsey and said, "Now what do we do?"

She checked her watch and said, "Well the actual orientation starts in fifteen minutes. We should get going."

"What do we do in the orientation?"

"Well, since our dean is Director Brown he will be talking to us about the rules and punishments and other junk. After that we meet all of our teachers and they give us a syllabus of their class. We spend about half an hour in each class today to meet our teachers and so we can see what they expect of us or whatever. Then we can do whatever we want."

On our way to the sanctuary I decided to break the silence and say, "So you've been coming here since your freshman year?"

"Yup, but it sucks because that was the year Director Brown got the freshman."

"What do you mean 'got the freshman'?"

She replied, "Director Brown has been our dean since our freshman year. After next year he'll get the new freshman class until they graduate and the process starts all over again. They do that so we can be close to our dean and not have to worry about having a different one each year." She saw that I was still confused. "Okay let me try it again. The senior class right now, has had the same dean since their freshman year and once they graduate, their dean will have the incoming freshman class. He'll have them until their senior year. Make sense?"

"Yeah it does. That's kind of stupid though."

"Oh, trust me, I know."

When we got to the sanctuary I looked around and it looked like there were about two hundred kids in the junior class. Kelsey and I took a seat by Ashton and some of his friends.

When I sat next to Ashton he gave me a quick kiss. I started, "Hey, baby. I-"

But then Director Brown interrupted us. He walked on stage and got the microphone, "Hello, everyone. For those of you who do not know me I am Director Brown. I will be your literature teacher and your dean this year. I wanted to start by welcoming all of the new students. So, if you are new please stand up."

At first I didn't want to stand up. But then Ashton pushed me up. I looked around and I saw one other person standing up.

Director Brown continued, "Welcome to WestWick Academy. I am sure your peers will be sure to make you feel welcome. You may sit down." I sat down. He started again, "Second, to all of the returning students I wanted to say welcome back. Now, I am sure most of you are familiar with the rules. But, we have changed a few things. Last year the curfew for the juniors was eleven 'o clock. This year however your curfew will be ten thirty."

When he said this more than half of the crowd booed. One guy yelled, "Why are you being such a dick this early in the year, Brown!"

After that comment Ashton laughed. I whispered to him, "Who was that?"

He replied, "That would be Chuck."

Director Brown then faced Chuck said, "Mr. Kaiser do you wish to have detention before school starts?" He faced the crowd again. "Now to the rest of you, ya'll are just going to have to suck it up. Be big boys and girls-"

"Yeah, like you're one to talk!" Chuck yelled sarcastically.

Director Brown smiled at him and said, "You just bought yourself a week of detention." He was talking to everyone now, "Speaking of detention, it is now held in Director Collins' room. Unlike last year in detention, you will be required to write an essay on a topic assigned to you by Director Collins. You will not be allowed to do homework or able to read. Now let's get talking about your privileges. If you live within thirty minutes of this school then you will be allowed to go home on the weekends." Ashton and I looked at each other and smiled. He knew what I was thinking and I knew what he was thinking. Director Brown continued, "Oh, and a new privilege this year is that you may get one off-campus pass per grading period. For example, once every six weeks you may go off-campus for lunch or after school you may go somewhere. If you would like to do so then just tell me so I can approve of the place and give you a pass to get past the guards."

Then a bell rang and everyone stood up. "Ok everyone, thank you for listening. Now you are dismissed and you are to go to your first period class. If you have me for soccer please stay here. If you have Coach Dunn meet him in the gym," Director Brown said.

Ashton looked over to me and said, "I'll see you later." He leaned to give me a kiss then someone interrupted us.

"Ashton, is this your new girl?" this person asked Ashton.

Ashton and smiled and said, "Yup. This is the girl who has my heart."

His friend looked me up and down. He finally said, "Nice work, man. I have to say that this is a pretty good rebound-"

Rebound? Was I just a rebound? Did that explain the whole Amy thing? Ok, Ashton had some serious explaining to do. I looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

Ashton's eyes were huge. He shook his head and said, "Don't listen to Tyler. He doesn't know what he's talking about." He turned to Tyler and said, "Seriously, dude? Go away."

Tyler raised his hands in the air. He smiled at me and said, "It's good to meet you. We can get names later." Tyler then walked away.

I wanted an explanation now. I started, "What did he mean when he said, 'nice rebound'?"

Ashton explained, "Listen I-"

Director Brown interrupted, "Ashton, you need to leave now."

Ashton sighed and said to me, "We'll talk later. I promise."

After that, he left and I just sat down.


	18. The Choice

The Choice

"It's choice—not chance—that determines your destiny."- Jean Nidtech

The day went by super fast. Most of my teachers seemed nice enough. I think I'm going to like Director Moore. He is my very cute health teacher. The rest of my teachers were ok. I wasn't really paying attention when they were talking. I was too focused on Ashton. What did he mean? Was I a rebound? I tried to remember anything weird that had happened. Then I did remember. I remembered how Amy kept talking with him and how he didn't make eye contact. What if they were dating before I showed up? What if she broke up with Ashton? If that were true then that would make me the rebound girl.

Right now I was lying on my bed in my dorm. I just finished unpacking my things. During the orientation I found out that Ashton and I had literature, foreigns, and US history together. During each of those classes he tried to talk to me, but the teachers always interrupted us.

I couldn't think about this any longer. I had to go do something, anything really. Right then I got a text. I opened my phone and it was from Clint. It read: **hey steph. I was wondering if u wanted to see that movie now. I actually have something 2 talk 2 u about 2. so…yeah. If u want 2 then txt me back. **

I was starting to respond when I got another text. This time the text was from Ashton. It read: **hey baby. I am so so so so srry bout earlier. Plz give me a chance 2 explain. Call me back when u have the chance. **

I thought about that for a second. I wanted to hear Ashton out, but I needed a break from him. He couldn't be my whole life and I wasn't cheating on him if I hung out with Clint. I mean I could have guy friends. Right?

I started to respond to Clint: **omg** **I would love 2 go out! But instead of a movie could we just get some coffee? I want 2 talk 2…I just need 2 get away for awhile. Where should we meet?**

Once I sent that to him, it only took one minute for him to respond. I opened my phone and the screen read: **how about the fountain in front of the school in about thirty minutes? **

I smiled when I read this. Clint was awesome. I responded: **sure. I'll see ya then **

After I sent that I wanted to change into something else. I looked through my closet to see what I could wear. I decided to wear my white summer dress with my black heels. I put my hair down and brushed it out so it was straight. By the time I was done getting dressed I had five minutes left. I walked down to the fountain where Clint was.

When I approached him he smiled and said, "You ready?"

I smiled back and replied, "Let's go."

He led me to his car. I wasn't really surprised when I saw that he had a Mercedes Touts. I kind-of figured he had an expensive car. He held the passenger door open for me. When I got in I realized how nice his car really was. Before Clint got into the driver's seat my phone beeped indicating I had a text. The number was blocked…I bet it was that person who kept threatening me. The text read: **Hey jess! I see that ur w/ Clint right now. Don't 4get that u have 2 kiss him by Tuesday…or I'll reveal ur secret. If I were u then I would do it pretty soon :)**

I closed my phone before Clint saw it. As soon as I closed it, he got in his car. I looked around to see who could have sent that text. I saw that guy Chuck, I saw Brittney, Amy, that other guy Tyler…then I saw the most probable person.

Courtney.

She looked directly into my eyes and smiled. I mouthed to her, "You're done."

I guess Clint saw that I was upset so he asked me, "Hey, are you alright?"

I turned to face him. I gave a convincing smile and said, "Yeah. I just want to get out of here."

It took us ten minutes to get to the nearest Starbucks. I ordered a grande drip, Clint ordered a latte. I got us a table while Clint waited for our drinks. Once they were out, he sat down and we began talking.

I started, "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

He looked down like he was embarrassed or something. Once he looked up he said, "I wanted to apologize on behalf on my brothers. I swear to you that I would never try to take you away from Ashton. I didn't even tell them how I felt about you. They always do that with new girls I meet."

I think I confused Clint by laughing. "I wasn't upset or anything. I thought your brother's were just messing with you," I said.

Clint looked down at the table. I could tell he was still embarrassed. I decided to tell him something about me, something true—well something semi-true. "I know how you feel right now," I said sympathetically.

He looked up and said sadly, "How?"

"Well, I have a brother." _Used _to have a brother. I continued, "His name is Trey." His name _was _Trey. "He used to do the same things to me. He would make me and my friends feel awkward all the time. But, he was always there for me and I'm sure your brothers are there for you too."

He smiled and said, "I know they are. They're just difficult sometimes." He then got very serious all of the sudden. "I've never told you this, but my brothers have basically raised me. My father left us when I was just six years old. When that happened it was like my mother wasn't even there. My brothers noticed that too I suppose, because when I was ten and Blake was nineteen he took us to the States. He was my legal guardian at the time….still is."

I was very surprised that he felt that he could trust me. It took me a moment to reply, "How old was Ian and Kelsey?"

"Ian was fifteen and Kelsey was nine." He stilled looked sad, but all of the sudden he smiled. He then said to me, "So that is my life story. Well of course there are the relationships that ended in turmoil, but that is another day and another cup of coffee." I giggled and he continued, "Tell me about yours, Stephanie."

Tell him what? My life story or my relationships that ended in turmoil? What was I going to say? I could not tell the truth…come to think of it, I didn't have to say anything. An idea came into my mind.

"I have a better idea," I said seductively.

Right then I made a choice. A choice that was probably going to effect Clint, Ashton, and myself. But I didn't care. Right then I wanted it and I would have done it even if someone wasn't making me do it.

I leaned in, closed my eyes, and locked my lips onto his. I kissed him so deeply and so fervidly. In that moment, it was as if Clint and I were the only two people who existed. I wrapped my hands in his hair and drew him in. I haven't kissed someone so passionately since I almost lost my virginity in the cafeteria with Ashton.

Ashton.

I almost forgot about him. I shouldn't be doing this, but I can't help it. Then I heard something. Something that made me wish that I didn't kiss Clint in the first place. I heard the appalled, mad voice of Ashton say, "Stephanie!"


	19. Explanations

Explanations

"Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove."- William Shakespeare

I jerked away from Clint, looked Ashton in the eye, and said, "Ashton? Oh my gosh, no." I started to feel tears develop in my eyes.

Ashton then walked over to Clint and punched him in the jaw. "Ashton!" I yelled.

Ashton started to walk away then Clint got up and punched him back. I know I shouldn't be thinking this, but it's sort of hot when two guys fight over you. It is especially when one of them is from the South and the other from Britain.

Ashton pushed him and said, "Did you seriously just punch me back after what I just saw?"

"What exactly did you see?" Clint replied.

"I saw you playing tongue twister with my girlfriend!"

Clint shrugged his shoulders and said, "So what? Do you think that gives you the right to punch me?"

At this point everyone in Starbucks was watching us. Ashton swung his arm for another punch, but the manager caught his fist and said, "If you hit someone again, I'm going to call the cops."

My eyes got huge and I looked at Ashton and said sternly, "Ashton. We need to leave." It looked like he didn't care. I knew he remembered what Detective Sullivan said about us going to jail if we got into any trouble, he just didn't care though. I tried again, "Ashton, let's go."

Without a word, he left. I looked back at Clint and said, "I am so sorry. I don't know what happened."

Clint then sadly said, "Stephanie, just go."

I wanted to stay here and help him but I knew that I owed Ashton an explanation. I ran out the door and I chased after him. Once I finally caught up with him I said, "Ashton, listen-"

He angrily interrupted, "Listen to what, Stephanie? Listen to some pathetic excuse? Save your breath. I don't want to hear it."

He looked and sounded so angry. I've never seen him like this before. It turned me on. Ugh. I have got to stop thinking like that. This is a serious time…be serious Jessica.

I tried one more time, "Please, Ashton. Please just listen to me, give me another chance."

"Give me one reason why I should."

I started to cry now. I had no idea what to say to him. So, I summed it up to three words. "I love you-"

He started to laugh. "Of course you do."

Ok, now I'm mad. "Yes I do!"

"So you kissed Clint because you love me? Yeah, because that makes perfect sense," He said sarcastically.

I walked over to him and slapped him. It was a good, hard slap to. When I got in control of my emotions I said, "Don't you dare tell me what I do and don't feel. And if anything _I_ should be mad at _you_."

His eyebrows pulled together. I could tell he was just as mad as I was. He then said, "How do you figure?"

"When that Tyler guy said that I was just a rebound for you, is that true? Am I just a rebound? What happened between you and Amy?" I demanded.

When I mentioned Amy, all the color from his face dropped. After a few moments he said, "You don't know what you're talking about. It's not like that-"

"Then what's it like?" I looked down and sighed. I realized that I was being the cover model for the hypocrisy magazine. I continued, "I'm sorry. Look Ashton, I'm sure you feel that I owe you an explanation and I do, trust me. But, you owe me one too."

He looked me in the eye and I saw the Ashton that I've come to know and love. "Yeah, I know. We need to talk. Umm…" He looked down and squeezed his eyes with his fingers. One he looked up he continued, "Do you want to go back to the hotel? To talk, I mean?"

I smiled and said, "Yes."

Once we got into his room we had a seat on his couch. He started, "So, where do you want to start?"

"I'll go first," I said that because I hoped that if I could make up an adequate lie then we could move forward in our relationship. I continued, "What do you want to know?"

"Well for starters I would like to know why you kissed Clint."

What was I going to tell him? If I told him that someone was threatening me, he would ask why. I certainly could not tell him that. So the truth was out of the question, but there has to be _something_ I could tell him…

I said nonchalantly, "I kissed him because I needed to be sure of something."

Ashton looked confused, "To be sure of what?"

I looked him in his gorgeous, light brown eyes and said, "I kissed him because I needed to be sure that I belonged with you. I kissed him because I needed to be sure that his kiss meant nothing to me."

He stared quizzically at me. It seemed as if he was trying to solve a complicated puzzle in his head, but those moments of silence were torture for me. I _needed_ him to say something, to say _anything _really. Just when I was about to break the silence he said, "Well did it? Did his kiss mean anything to you?"

I bent my head down and looked at my hands. That question threw me off guard. I truly wanted to be honest, but what if he took the truth the wrong way? Was I going to go back to Clint? _No_. I would not leave Ashton. Clint probably thought I was a terrible person for kissing him anyways. If only he knew the truth about why I kissed him in the first place then he wouldn't think of me that way. Then again, the entire reason why the person who is threatening me is because he/she knew my darkest secret, so never mind. Either way Clint would think of me in a bad way. I bet he wouldn't even listen to me if I tried to explain to him why I did what I did. Nobody listened to me…

After a while of me thinking I realized that Ashton was still waiting for an answer. I looked up and decided to answer his question genuinely, "His kiss meant nothing compared to how I feel about you and to be honest I kept thinking about you." I paused and sighed. I needed him to still want me and just a satisfaction of an answer wasn't going to be enough for Ashton. I knew him better than that. I continued, "Listen, I am so sorry that we fought. I also really regret cheating on you, but I swear to you that will never happen again."

It was his turn to think now, to make the decision. I watched him intently as he thought. I was trying to read any body language or any sign on his face. I was very good at seeing people's thoughts so to speak. He put his hand behind his head and sighed. Ashton then looked up at me then looked to the painting of him, his brother, and his mother and father. It looked like he was contemplating about his family, probably about his mother. While he was still looking at the painting he nodded and said dryly, "Ok." He finally stopped staring at the painting and looked at me. He continued, "I overreacted and I'm sorry, but I need to know that I can trust you."

"You can," I said with all my heart, "cheating on you was a mistake that I will never make again, Ashton."

I meant that too. If someone sent me a text demanding me to do something against him, I will simply refuse.

"I know, Steph." He smiled.

I sighed with relief and smiled. "So where do we go from here?"

He answered right away with a stern face, "Well, I think you should hear what I have to say before we decide." He paused and looked at the painting again. "I need to tell you something," he looked back at me, "something about me and Amy."

I shifted uncomfortably. "Okay?" It sounded more like a question.

"When Tyler said that stuff...no. Umm, well you being the rebound girl isn't entirely true…." He was having difficulties speaking. It seemed like he was trying to find the right words to say, "You see, last year Amy and I did have a thing going on." He paused. "I'm sorry. I don't really know where to start."

"How about the beginning," I suggested lightly. It had been a while since we had been light hearted with each other.

He scoffed and said, "That's a good idea." He looked at the painting then at me again and said, "So, Amy and I started dating in the middle of sophomore year. It started getting sort of serious at the end of our sophomore year. Anyways, one night I was planning on going to my hotel, but I changed my mind." He looked down and shook his head. His eyes met the painting once again, "Once I got back to my dorm I caught her sleeping with my old roommate on _my_ old bed."

That was it? Well I know that must have been very hard for him; I was just expecting something else. I wanted to be a good girlfriend so I leaned over and gave him a hug and said, "Oh my gosh. I am so sorry. I had no idea, Ashton."

"You shouldn't really be hugging me now," he leaned away, "you didn't hear the ending of my story. Anyways everyone here heard about our breakup. To be honest it was kind of embarrassing, so once summer hit I was glad to get out of New Bedford." Now he was looking me directly in the eye. Hopefully this was the part where he told me that he loved me, but I wasn't expecting it. Instead, I was expecting something like, "I'm sorry, Stephanie. But, I still love Amy." He then closed his eyes for a moment. Once he opened them he said, "Then one summer day I saw a girl, a very cute girl. I was lucky because she stepped into my taxi and we started talking. The talking turned into flirting. The flirting turned into dating, and all the while this one girl had my heart and you know what?"

I was about ninety percent certain that he wasn't talking about me. Great. I just lost the best thing that came into my life. I couldn't lose someone else.

It looked like he was actually waiting for me to answer.

"What?" I replied with tears in my eyes.

He then smiled and said softly and lovingly, "She still does."

Right then I knew that he was talking about me. I knew this because of the way he said it. He said it like I was the only thing he cared about. He's saying that he is still in love with me. After this whole screw up with Clint, our love survived.

Even though I already knew the answer I had to ask, "Just so we're clear, I'm not the rebound am I?"

Ashton raised his eyebrows and said, "Stephanie Peterson, were you listening to a word I just said? I wasn't even thinking about Amy when I first met you. I wasn't even thinking about our breakup until Tyler opened his fat mouth. Who did you think I was talking about when I said a girl has my heart? I was talking about you! I was trying to tell you that I've loved you ever since I first laid my eyes on you and I am still in love with you now!"


	20. Missed It By One BitchText…

Missed It By One Bitch-Text…

"Kissing is a means of getting two people so close together that they can't see anything wrong with each other."- Rene Yasenek

I smiled. Ashton loved me. I still had tears in my eyes. Slowly, I let the tears fall. I started, "Well good, because I love you too."

Then without another word from either of us, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards me. I drew his lips to mine and kissed him slowly, passionately, and deeply. Our bodies were touching nicely. It would be perfectly okay if we were here forever. This kiss was different somehow though. It was better than all the rest because we took our time. I also noticed that this moment feels real. It's like nothing else matters. My past doesn't matter. What I did doesn't matter. Amy doesn't matter and Clint doesn't matter. This is _everything_ right now.

Before I knew it we were on his bed and he was on top of me. I unbuttoned his shirt while he unzipped the back of my dress. I drew my head back and he was taking me in one step at a time. He kissed my hair, ear, lips, and neck. He started off with short kisses and in between them he would whisper sweet things to me like, "You're beautiful" and "You're amazing" and "I love you so much" and "God made you just right".

Then the kisses started to get longer. I personally liked him calling me those pet names, but I liked the longer kisses more. Then right when I started to kiss his chest my phone beeped.

"Are you going to get that?" Ashton asked me with a taunt in his eyes.

I replied sarcastically, "Hmm. Let me think about this. I have two options. Option number one- I stay exactly as I am and keep kissing you; option number two- I move away from you to get my phone. Yeah that's tough call."

He laughed and said, "I was hoping you'd say that."

We then re-positioned ourselves to where I was on top and where he was on the bottom. I was starting to unbuckle his belt when my phone beeped again. Ashton then grabbed my waist and flipped me over to where I was back on the bottom.

"Where's your phone?" he asked me while smiling.

I raised an eyebrow and said, "It's right here." I showed him the phone in my hands. He reached for it, but I drew the phone back. "You have to ask nicely."

He flipped me over and started giving my back kisses. "Okay, that'll suffice," I said.

He took the phone. When I sat up, I saw that he was reading the text. I tried to grab my phone from him, but he held me back with his strong hand pressed against my stomach.

Then all the color dropped from his face. "What's wrong? Who was that?" I asked worried. What if it was the person who kept threatening me? Then Ashton would ask why he/she was doing this. If that happened then I would have to leave. There are no questions about it, I could not stay.

"No- no one. Just forget about it," he said.

I reached over him and grabbed the phone. The text was from Courtney and it read: **I told u that I would get u back 4 wat u did 2 me in soccer. So, when I saw that u left w/ clint, I told ashton. Then someone else told me u were in starbucks so I sent ashton there. I hope that your break-up taught u something….u should never mess w/ me. I hope ur not dumb enough 2 make the same mistake twice. **

I looked up at Ashton and said, "Is this how you knew where I was?"

He closed his eyes and nodded nonchalantly. Wait a second. Who told her I went into Starbucks? I wanted answers and I wanted them _now_.

"Can we go back to the school?" I asked.

He sighed. "Come on, Steph. It's just Courtney being her normal bitchy self. You shouldn't be mad."

"I'm not mad I just want to talk to her," I said innocently.

He shook his head and said, "Fine."

I scanned the hefty crowd for Courtney. Then I saw her talking with her boyfriend, Matt, and Jen and her boyfriend, Jeff. I marched up to Courtney and grabbed her arm and started to pull her away.

I heard Matt call after us, "What the hell-"

"She'll just be a moment," I called back.

I pulled her around the back of the English Wing. She just stared at me and smiled.

She started to twirl a piece of curled brown hair and say, "Was Ashton pretty pissed at you? I bet he was. He has a reputation for getting pissed easily-"

"Shut up. I just came over here to tell you that you're little plan didn't work. In fact Ashton and I were about to seal the deal before I got your text. So despite all your hard work, which was completely transparent by the way, you failed." I then mimicked her and started to twirl a piece of my hair and say, "Are you pretty pissed right now? I bet you are. I've heard you have a reputation for getting pissed easily."

Her eyes narrowed and I could tell that I've struck a nerve. She was pissed and anyone from a mile away could see that. Before she spoke I asked her, "I just have one question for you."

She rolled her eyes. "What makes you think that I would answer any of your questions?"

I took a step closer to her, filling the gap between us. I made a last second decision and changed my question, "How does it feel to have all your work blown up in your face?" I smiled at her.

She lifted up her hand and tried to slap me, but I caught her hand before it hit my face. "Don't try to hit me," I squeezed her hand hard, "you have no idea what I am capable of," I threw her hand away from me. "You don't know my past."

Courtney started to back away when a familiar voice interrupted us, "What's going on here, ladies?"

Director Brown stood a mere two feet away. Had he heard me say that stuff about my past? Was he going to call the police? If he tried to then I would have to take care of him. I would also have to take care of any witnesses around, like Courtney.

No. I wasn't that person anymore. Even if he was going to the police I wouldn't allow myself to harm someone else. I would just have to deal with it. Worst case, I could run.

Courtney gave me a short smile then said to Director Brown, "She grabbed my wrist and threatened me."

Director Brown raised his eyebrows at me. "Is that true, Stephanie?"

"Nope," I replied simply.

He didn't look convinced. He probably saw the whole thing. "I need to have a word with you and Ashton. Where is he?" Director Brown asked me.

I licked my lips. He wanted to talk. Just talk, that's it? I wasn't buying it. "Talk about what?" I asked.

"I actually need to talk to a few people. It's not just y'all so there's no need to worry."

"That doesn't answer my question."

His eyebrows pulled together. He said, "You never answered mine."

"I saw Ashton talking with Chuck over by the gate, Director Brown," Courtney said happily.

He nodded then said to her, "Thank you, Miss Sanders." He then turned to me. "Please follow me, Miss Peterson."

Without a word we walked over by the front gate and sure enough there were Ashton and Chuck. Ashton's back was towards us and I saw a small paper bag in his hands. He gave the bag to Chuck and Chuck gave him a wad of money. Chuck then looked up and saw us coming, he nodded towards us. Ashton threw a quick glance over his shoulder. Once he saw us coming he hid the money in his pocket.

_What was that all about? What was in the bag? Was this the same guy who wanted us to be all honest with each other like thirty minutes ago?_

I looked behind me and Director Brown didn't seem to notice. Either that or he was very good at not showing it.

Once we caught up to them, Director Brown started, "Will you two follow me please?"

Chuck scrunched his nose and replied, "Believe it or not, I am actually very busy. Can this wait," he checked his watched, "for about two hours?"

This was the first time I saw Chuck up close. He looked and sounded like a trouble maker. He had dark blue eyes and it looked like he had black hair. I got a better look, nope not black just really dark brown. His bangs were long; they almost went down to his eyes. By the looks of his hair and his clothes it looked like he just got out of bed. Both his jeans and shirt were wrinkled. He looked like a mini version of Tom Welling. Less hot, but still very cute.

"Of course, Chuck," Director Brown said. Chuck's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Director Brown continued, "But you would also have an extra week of detention."

"Eh, it's worth it," He replied while walking away.

Director Brown grabbed Chuck's shirt and pulled him back. "No. You're coming with me. But, you can still have that extra week of detention."

"Excellent," Chuck replied sarcastically. He looked back at me and Ashton and said, "Are two lovebirds joining us?"

Director Brown answered for us, "Yes they are."


	21. Apparently Delinquents Matter

Apparently Delinquents Matter

"You can't make one person your world. The trick is to take what each can give you and build a world from it."- Anonymous

As Chuck and I waited outside of Director Brown's office for him to stop talking to Ashton, I noticed he kept staring at me.

"I don't think we've been introduced, I'm Chuck."

I smiled and replied, "I'm Stephanie."

He looked me up and down and stopped to stare at my boobs for a few seconds. Once he got to my face he smiled and said, "I think I remember you earlier today, when Brown called a few of us in early to tell us about detention. What'd ya do?"

Should I tell him the truth? What would he think of me? Whatever, I had no reason to lie. "Umm, one night I guess I just felt the need to have a few drinks. Those few drinks turned into many drinks, the police found out and arrested me for it."

"Is that it?"

"Well I did leave out the part where I resisted arrest and assaulted two police officers," I said quickly.

Chuck laughed and said, "That's not too bad. You got a month of detention, but still."

"Not too bad? Are you kidding? Because of those drinks I had, I now have a parole officer. So, if I even get a freaking speeding ticket I'm going to jail."

"At least you only have a month, I have two months. No, wait. Brown gave me a week during the orientation and another week ten minutes ago. So I have two and a half months." Chuck sighed and continued, "Isn't that great."

I replied, "What did you do to get two months?"

"I got two months because Brown is an ass."

I laughed and said, "No, seriously."

He looked up and it looked like he was counting things. Wow. He must really be a trouble maker. After a minute he said, "I got arrested too and before you ask, I got arrested for many things and since this wasn't the first time; I had to spend two weeks in jail. My sentence was a month, but I cut a deal with them."

"You've gotten arrested before?" I asked dubiously.

"I admit I have had a few problems with the law before." Chuck leaned forward and touched his fingertips together. He continued, "You see I like to think of any rule as a suggestion. If you don't like it or agree with it then you shouldn't have to go along with it. Speaking of which," Chuck leaned back and set his left foot on his right knee and said, "I am throwing a party tonight. Would you like to come?"

I blushed. He wanted me to come to his party. Wait, what if I was caught? I could be put back in jail. If that were to happen then the police might find out what really happened to my father and brother.

I acted like I was upset, "Were you not listening about the whole parole officer thing? If I get caught then I'm going to jail."

He tilted his head to the side. "Live on the edge, Peterson. In fact, I'm stuck on the same boat as you are. If I'm caught partying again then I'm going to juvie for a year. Do I look like I care if I get caught?"

"No," I admitted.

Chuck said, "Ok then. Are you coming to my party or not?"

I blushed, smiled, and said, "Who's going to be there?"

"People who matter," he said simply.

"Do I matter, Chuck?" I asked him flirtatiously.

"Did I ask you come?" Once I nodded he continued, "Then there's your answer."

I thought about the pros and cons of this party. If I did go, then I could meet people and make myself noticeable. But, I might get too noticed by either the police or the person who kept threatening me. If I went then I could just cut loose and have a few drinks, but then again I did just get arrested for drinking. I decided to take Chuck's advice and not care about the rules for once.

"I think I will go. Where is it?"

Chuck smiled and said, "I haven't decided yet, but I do know that it's off campus."

"Wait, you don't know where your own party is?"

"That's why I told Brown that I was busy. Plus I am normally the only one who knows where my parties are until I text everyone the location an hour before. That right there is part of the fun of Chuck Kaiser's parties. "

I laughed and said, "Oh, so we're talking in third person now?" I remembered something and continued, "You said that it's off campus, how are we going to get past the guards if-"

Chuck interrupted, "Calm down. I've got it covered." He then handed me an off campus pass.

Where did he get a pass? Director Brown couldn't have approved this party.

"Where did you get this?" I asked suspiciously.

He replied, "I know a guy."

"Does Director Brown know-"

He raised a hand in the air to stop me and said, "I told you that it is part of the fun."

"Then yeah, I guess I will come." I looked down and smiled. I proceeded, "I also can't wait to see your idea of a party and if it is a good party."

Chuck pursed his lips a little bit and nodded. Then he said while laughing, "Yeah, Chuck Kaiser doesn't know how to throw a party. That's funny."

Then I saw Ashton walk out of Director Brown's office. He looked relieved, yet somehow worried too. I looked over at Chuck and he was trying to read Ashton just like I was.

"He wants to talk to y'all now," Ashton said to both Chuck and I.

Chuck got up and started to go ahead of me, just as I started to get up Ashton stopped me.

"Be careful in there," he said quietly.

I replied, "Careful of what?"

"Don't get mad at him, raise your voice, or do anything stupid. Okay?"

My eyebrows pulled together. Who was he talking about? If he was talking about his brother then why would I do anything stupid to him? I mean I get the whole not getting mad thing, because he could give me more detention. But Ashton seemed worried for me and I didn't know why.

"Last time you saw him…well to say the least y'all didn't get along. I'm not going to be in there to protect you or to stand up for you. That's the whole reason I went in there first."

"Ashton, what are you talking about?"

"If you don't say anything about what he says to you, then you'll be grateful. Trust me. Oh, and take the offer."

Offer? What could Director Brown possibly have to offer that I would want? Ashton told me the last time I saw him we didn't get along. I saw him like ten minutes ago. Wait. Was Ashton talking about someone else? If so, then who?

Chuck stuck his head out the door and said, "Come on, Peterson."

I exhaled a big breath before I walked in the door. Then I saw who Ashton was talking about. I understood why he said the things he said. Yes, the last time I saw him I certainly did not get along with him. What was he doing here? Did Bryce say something to someone and he found out or something? Or was it the person who kept threatening me? Did he/she finally want to end the torture by calling the _police_? If so then Detective Sullivan was the perfect candidate to arrest me. I might as well go ahead and confess.

"Please sit down, Stephanie," Director Brown said to me.

I took a seat next to Chuck. I glanced at Chuck and he was sitting like he lived in this office. He sat with his feet propped up on a small glass table with his arms spread wide across the neck of the couch. I then looked at Detective Sullivan and he was wearing a black suit with a dark blue tie. His blonde hair was slicked back again.

"Do you two know this man?" Director Brown asked me and Chuck.

"Yes," I said while looking at the floor.

Chuck said, "What's up, Sullivan."

"It's _Detective_ Sullivan, Chuck," Detective Sullivan said annoyed.

"I'm sorry. I just figured that since we have bonded so much over the past two years—"

Sullivan interrupted, "Shut up, Chuck."

"Yes, sir," Chuck said while smiling.

Sullivan continued talking to both me and Chuck now, "Ok. You guys and Ashton are really the only kids I personally have had trouble with. Chuck, I'm sure you know the current situation you are in. Stephanie, the same goes for you. I have decided to make a proposition since you guys are just kids. Normally I wouldn't do this, but since Stephanie is new here I wanted to give her a break. Then I thought if I did it to Stephanie then I would have to do it with Chuck and Ashton also."

He turned to Chuck, "You know that if you get out of line for anything, then you're going to a juvenile hall for one year?" Once Chuck nodded, Sullivan turned to me and said, "As for you, you know that if you get out of line then you're going to stay in my department for one month?" I nodded and he continued to both Chuck and I, "Well, I'm going to give you guys another chance. If you get three strikes then that's it. Chuck if you get three strikes then you're going to juvenile hall. Stephanie if you get three strikes then you're staying in my department for a month."

"Three strikes mean what exactly?" Chuck asked intrigued.

"If you're caught partying, smoking, drinking, stealing, basically if you're caught doing anything against the law; that is one strike. So, if you get three strikes-"

Chuck interrupted, "We're going to jail, we know."

Detective Sullivan's eyebrows shot up, "Ok then. Stephanie, do you understand?"

My head was still down when I said, "Yup." I just realized that I haven't made eye contact with him during this entire conversation. It probably looked suspicious.

"Can you look at me?" Sullivan asked me.

I looked up and gave a quick smile. I asked, "Something wrong, Detective?"

He looked like he was studying me, probably looking to see if I was drunk or something. He looked confused and suspicious. I don't even know why I felt the need to not look at him. Then I remembered why. What if Director Brown told Sullivan about mine and Courtney's little encounter? That would certainly not be good.

After he was somewhat through looking at me he said, "Have you had anything to drink today, Ms Peterson?"

Ok, apparently I did look drunk. Before I had the chance to answer, Chuck answered for me, "No, she hasn't. She was with me most of the day."

I glanced at him. Why was he lying to the police? I mean yeah that was sweet of him, but I didn't even have a glass of wine today. Wait. Did _he_ think I was drunk?

"Chuck you may leave, you're not involved with this," Sullivan said.

Chuck replied, "Actually I am. If Stephanie was with me and if you're accusing her of drinking then you might as well be accusing me of drinking too."

Director Brown then cut in, "Leave, Chuck. You already have two and a half months of detention, would you like to have three months?"

That was it. I could not just sit here and watch Chuck take the blame for this. "Hey, this is not Chuck's fault. There is no need to be hostile here," I turned to Sullivan and said, "No. I have not had a drink since the night before you arrested me. Do you really think that I'm that stupid? I'm sorry that I'm not dumb enough to drink even though you arrested me for that less than three days ago!" I don't know why but I felt very brave all-of-the-sudden so I continued, "Now if that's all I have things to do."

"What kind of things?" Sullivan asked.

I replied sarcastically, "Oh, you know I need to go get drunk because you already found out about my so called drinking problem, so it doesn't really matter what I do now."

Chuck smiled, but covered it up his hand; I could tell he was trying to not laugh. I hope Sullivan got the message that I am not a freaking alcoholic!

"Great. You just confessed to under-age drinking. Are you ready to go back to the station?" Sullivan said. Once he saw my look of confusion he continued, "You do realize that I could take you in right now right?"

I stood up, looked him directly in the eye and said sternly, "Even if you did take me in, you couldn't hold me. I have Chuck as a witness that you said I would be put in jail after three strikes. That would only be strike one."

"That's enough, Stephanie," Director Brown said.

Without taking his eyes off of me; Sullivan replied to Brown, "No, it's ok." Now he was talking to me, "Do you really want to play this game with me?"

I raised my eyebrows as an indication that I wasn't backing down.

He then said, "Consider this strike one."

"Why? I didn't break any laws."

His nostrils were flared as he exhaled a deep, long breath. "You're right, this is not strike one. But, I'm sure that Director Brown will be watching you closely and letting me know of anything and everything you do."

"Absolutely," Brown said.

Sullivan then said, "I have nothing more to say to either of you."

When I was walking out I heard Brown yell, "Instead of one month of detention you know have a month and a half, Stephanie."

Wow. I just told off a freaking detective! Awesome! I walked out of Director Brown's door with a new sense of confidence. I wasn't scared or worried, I felt proud and secure. Brown wasn't in control anymore, I was; Sullivan is not in control, I was. I could see why Chuck always defied any type of authority…because it puts you in charge.

As soon as we were out of hearing distance, Chuck said with a huge smile on his face, "You still going to the party?"

"Wouldn't miss it," I replied.

We exchanged phone numbers so that when Chuck texts the location, I know where to go.


	22. The Party

The Party

"Drink, and dance and laugh and lie. Love the reeling midnight trough, for tomorrow we shall die! (But, alas, we never do)."-Dorothy Parker

At eleven 'o five, I found myself walking onto an amazing rooftop with Ashton. The first thing I noticed was the massive crowd of people. I noticed Courtney, Kelsey, Chuck, Tyler, Matt, Jen, Amy, Brittney, and a whole bunch of other people I don't know. Courtney was probably the prettiest girl there. She was wearing a short (and I mean short) pink strapless dress with like four inch black pumps. Her long brown hair was straight, her makeup was flawless, and her flirting with Matt was working like a charm. It looked like he was hooked on every word.

I just now noticed how Matt looked. He had light blonde hair and green eyes. He was wearing a white long-sleeved Hollister shirt with dark blue jeans. I also noticed how he acted. He had a beer in one hand and the other arm was slung around Courtney's shoulder. He and Courtney were laughing at something. Probably some joke Courtney told that wasn't even funny, but Matt wanted to be a good boyfriend and laugh with her instead of at her.

Jen was semi cute tonight. She was wearing a short black dress with white polka dots. Her boyfriend, Jeff, was wearing a maroon short-sleeved Abercrombie shirt with dark blue jeans. He had his normal James Dean style hair again tonight. Then he saw me looking at him, he did a double take and looked me in the eye. Then with raised eyebrows and a fat smile, he pulled Jen into a deep kiss.

_What did he think that would accomplish? Was he trying to make me jealous? _I laughed at the thought of me being jealous of that douche.

I then blocked out the people and took in my surroundings. The rooftop had an amazing view of the city and the lake. I saw city lights, trees from the forest, and boats docked. I heard birds chirping, waves crashing on the shore, and crickets.

_This is why I love nature, it's beautiful. _

"I'm going to find Kelsey," I told Ashton.

Ashton replied while smiling, "Ok. If you need me I'll probably be at the bar, it's been a long day."

I laughed. "Well you deserve a few drinks." I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss.

I looked around for Kelsey and saw her at the other end of the rooftop. As I was walking, I spotted Chuck. He was wearing a white undershirt, a black unzipped jacket, and jeans. He was sitting down on the ledge, making out with some girl. It was pretty intense and aggressive too. I noticed next to him there was a half full beer. And next to that beer was an empty beer bottle. He was drunk, how nice.

Once I reached Kelsey she said with a smile, "Hey! I didn't know you'd be here!" Then her eyes got huge and she continued, "Wow. You look amazing."

I didn't really believe it. I just threw on a blue silk dress with black pumps.

"Thanks. So do you." We practically had to yell because the music was really loud.

When I said she looked amazing I meant it. She was wearing a black Ed Hardy dress, her makeup was amazing and so was her hair. Everything about her was amazing.

Kelsey replied, "Thank you. Oh, this is Chloe." She pointed to a girl next to her.

Chloe was kind of pretty. She was an Asian with black hair that went to the bottom of her boobs. Her hair was curly and she was wearing a light green Calvin Klein dress. She wasn't hideous, but she wasn't hot.

"Hi, I'm Stephanie," I said.

"Hello," she replied snobbishly.

I turned to Kelsey and asked, "So who is Chuck's girlfriend?"

Chloe laughed and asked Kelsey, "Chuck has a girlfriend? Please, we all know it's not going to last. How much do you want to bet that he would sleep with me tonight?" She took a sip of her martini and continued, "He would probably do it right now."

Kelsey ignored Chloe's comment. She made a face and said, "Wait. Chuck can't have a girlfriend; he's Chuck."

"Then why he is making out with a random girl?" I asked.

Chloe and Kelsey looked at each other and laughed. Kelsey was the one to answer me, "Because that's just Chuck, sweetie. You'll see him with three maybe even four girls a night. We've all had our Chuck moments. You could say that he is sort of a womanizer."

Chuck was a womanizer? I couldn't really see it…nevermind. I just remembered how he stared at my boobs earlier then smiled.

"Have you had your Chuck moment, Kelsey?" I teased.

Kelsey answered quickly, "Most of us here have and I'm sure you will too. I've seen the way Chuck looks at you, Stephanie. He is definitely interested in you and trust me, once he sees something he likes he doesn't stop easily."

I scoffed. "I wouldn't do that to Ashton. Plus, he's not even my type."

"No?" Kelsey asked me. I shook my head and she continued, "Well, we'll just see about that." She smiled and I rolled my eyes.

I looked back to see Chuck and that girl, but they were gone. Then I saw Brittney walk up to us.

"Hey, where have you been? I asked you to go get me a drink then you end up MIA for like half an hour." Kelsey asked her.

Brittney looked down and said, "I've just been talking with some people."

Kelsey eyed her suspiciously. Then she leaned forward and sniffed her. "Really, Britt? 'Some people'? Couldn't you have come up with something better?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Brittney said quickly. Kelsey raised her eyebrows and she said, "Ok, fine. I admit that I was with Chuck, but how did you know?"

That girl making out with Chuck was Brittney? Sweet, shy, kind Brittney? How far did she and Chuck go? Was it just first base? Or was it second? Or third? Did she know that he'll be making out with another girl sooner or later?

Kelsey simply replied, "Because you smell like him." Brittney looked confused so Kelsey said, "You smell like cigarettes and beer mixed with expensive cologne, that is exactly what he smells like. All I want to know is how far you went."

Brittney laughed and said, "Calm down, we didn't do it."

Chloe butted in, "Why didn't you? Chuck always does things at parties, especially when the party is his. Trust me, I would know."

Brittney said sarcastically, "I don't know, Chloe. Maybe because we're on a rooftop full of people watching us, but I'm not quite sure."

I ignored their bickering and looked back at the ledge where Chuck and Brittney were earlier. _Well I guess it's sooner rather than later…_

Chuck was there again with another girl. The girl looked like a less hot version of Courtney. They started to make out. I guess Chuck really was a womanizer.

"Hey, Chloe, isn't that Allison with Chuck?" Kelsey asked.

"What? Where?" Chloe looked to the ledge where Chuck and I guess a girl named Allison was. They were still making out, "That little slut. She is still dating Nick! She will not screw over Nick while screwing Chuck!"

Chloe started walking towards Chuck and Allison. She sat down next to Chuck, grabbed his shirt, and started to kiss him. Allison did the same; then she and Chloe started to yell and Chuck was being pulled back and forth.

"Ladies, there is enough Chuck for everyone," Chuck said happily. He continued, "There is a hotel right underneath our feet, and I happen to have a room for tonight. And if you two will give me a moment, I will be right back."

After that I walked to the bar. I ordered a martini. One moment later I saw Chuck sit down beside me. He ordered a beer then turned to me.

"So do you still think that I can't throw a party?" he asked me.

I replied, "I admit that I was wrong. You certainly do know how to throw a party."

He smiled a crooked smile and said, "What are you enjoying most? The open bar, the view, or the people? And by people I mean me."

I replied sarcastically, "Yes, Chuck. The whole reason I came to your party was because I am secretly in love with you."

"It wouldn't surprise me, most people do love me; or should I say that most people show actions of love towards me?"

"I'm not most people." I said that with two meanings. The first was that I am not in love with him. I did not like to be screwed around with. I don't know why a lot of girls at this school do like it. I guess they were just sluts. The other meaning was that most people wouldn't do what I did, especially not to their own family.

He let his eyes wander down my body. "You certainly are not like most women."

"I thought we were talking about _people_, Chuck; people as in not just one sex."

"You are absolutely right. Speaking of sex maybe we should go down to my hotel room and talk about it some more." He finally got back up to my face and continued, "Or not talk, whichever you prefer."

I smiled, "Wow. You know it's been less than three minutes and I'm already tired of your banter." I let my smile drop. "You know I'm with Ashton."

"Yes, I do know that, but the question is do I care?"

"Care about what?" Ashton asked.

Ashton took the other seat next to me and smiled. He gave me a quick kiss, but once he stopped kissing I didn't. I ended up giving him a deep, long kiss. I hope that showed Chuck something.

"If you two will excuse me, I have some important people to attend to," Chuck said.

Ashton and I looked back to see what he was talking about. We saw his arms wrapped around the waists of Allison and Chloe. The three of them were walking towards the elevator. Ashton laughed and shook his head.

"I really don't know why I'm friends with him," he muttered to himself.

I smiled and said, "So where have you been?"

"I've been hanging out with some of the guys. I left because Clint showed up and I figured it would be a bit awkward."

I wasn't really paying attention until he talked about Clint. I needed to talk to him and apologize about earlier today in Starbucks. I shouldn't have kissed him and Ashton shouldn't have punched him. I knew that if I told Ashton that I needed to talk to Clint, he would be upset. Ashton is my boyfriend after all and Clint is just a…well I don't really know what he is anymore. I doubt he still wants to be friends, but I needed to talk to him.

"Clint's here?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Would you be upset if I told you I need to talk to him?"

Ashton sighed and said, "Yeah I would. Why do you need to talk to him? Well I think the better question is why do you _want_ to talk to him?"

"Ashton I don't want to talk to him. I don't want to, but I need to. He deserves an explanation on why I kissed him and then just left." Ashton was looking down and staring at the floor. I put my hand on top of his and continued, "I promise you that I feel nothing for him. Everything I have I want you to have, not Clint. I won't let anything happen between us again. I know that you probably don't trust me around him and for good reason too, but I want to earn your trust back. Let me talk to him, Ashton."

He finally looked up and simply said, "Go ahead."

"Thank you."

I leaned forward and gave him a long, deep kiss. Once I was done kissing I said, "I love you, Ashton."

He smiled. "I love you too."

I gave him another kiss, but this time it was a short one. I walked over to where Clint was. He was talking with a lot of people that I didn't know.

Once I reached him I asked, "Can I talk to you?"

Without replying he started to walk away. I took that as a yes, so I followed him. Once we were semi alone he started talking to me.

"What do you want, Stephanie?" he asked me.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what I did earlier today."

"Sorry for kissing me?" I nodded. He started to nod, but then he started to shake his head. "I'm not."

What? What was he trying to say to me? Did he want me to kiss him again? As much as I would like to, I couldn't. I couldn't for Ashton's sake; I couldn't bear to hurt him again.

"What are you saying, Clint?"

"I'm not sorry that you kissed me. Ever since I saw you on the train, I've been wondering what that would feel like. I just want to know if you did it out of pity or-"

I interrupted, "I didn't do it out of pity, I just did it. I realize that was a mistake and I felt terrible about it, I kind of still do."

He smiled. "Don't feel bad about it. I admit that I am normally not one for cheating, but for you I would make an exception."

"Clint, I-"

At that moment my phone beeped. I sighed and opened my purse to get out my phone. When I flipped open my phone I saw a text that read:

**If you don't want me 2 call the police then you will kiss Clint, right now. **

I closed my phone and sighed. I wasn't going to let this person run my life. I make my own decisions; I don't let other people make them for me. I really don't care if this person called the police. I would tell them that this person keeps threatening me and he/she would be locked up too.

"As much as I want to kiss you again I can't, Clint. I love Ashton and I hurt him earlier today. I can't hurt him again."

For a moment he looked upset and hurt, but he quickly recovered. "I completely understand. I apologize for asking that of you."

I smiled and said, "It's ok, but can we try to be friends?"

Clint looked down and brought his hand to his face. He squeezed his eyes with his fingers. It looked like he was thinking about whether he should acquiesce with me or not. After moments of silence he finally spoke.

"I don't think so, Stephanie. The only reason I said that is because I will always feel something for you and if you and Ashton broke up, I don't want to be the cause for that. I know what I'm about to say is going to sound cliché, but I don't trust myself around you."

I shut my eyes and I felt tears coming. I can't believe that he's doing this. I can't believe that I'm shedding tears for someone who I've known for about seventy two hours. Then again, I've known Ashton for that long too.

He kissed my forehead and said, "I'm sorry."

Then he walked off. My phone went off again, this time the text read:

**BIG mistake!**

I shook my head and walked over towards Ashton. He was still sitting at the bar, this time he had a beer with him. When he saw me he looked worried.

"Are you okay? What happened? Did he do something to you?" Ashton asked worried.

I replied dully, "I am ok. Nothing happened and I just want to get out of here."

"Why? Did he do or say anything that upset you?" Ashton asked while getting up.

Yes he did say stuff that upset me, but I couldn't let Ashton know that. I didn't want him to punch Clint again; I gave a convincing smile and said, "No. I just think I've had enough partying for one night. If you want to stay then I can get a cab."

"You aren't going to get a cab, don't be stupid. I don't mind leaving a bit early," Ashton said like I was crazy.

When we walked out of the hotel we were stopped by the police. There were police cars everywhere with men in uniform were piling out. I didn't see Detective Sullivan or Officer Watson. I guess the person who is threatening me really did call the police. With this many police around I knew I didn't have a chance of escaping. I might as well just go ahead and confess. I don't feel like fighting right now so I think I would go quietly.

"Were you two just at a party?" one police officer demanded.

Ashton was the one to reply, "No, we were just visiting some friends."

I looked at Ashton then at the police officer. I guess they weren't here for me. They were here because someone made a noise complaint.

"Do we need to take them in, sir?" a different police officer asked.

"No, they weren't at the party."

After that, every single police officer ran inside the hotel to arrest the people at the party. That's not fair. Some people at the party weren't even drinking. I got out my phone and texted Kelsey:

**911, police r here! Get out while u can!**

After I sent that, Ashton and I went back to WestWick and went to sleep. Tomorrow should be interesting; it's the first day of school.


	23. First Day

First Day

"You send your child to the schoolmaster, but 'tis the schoolboys who educate him."-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I woke up the next day by someone shaking me and yelling at me. I looked at my clock and I just saw a 50. If it was only 6:50 then what was the problem?

"Stephanie, get up! It's seven fifty! You need to get up and get dressed!" Kelsey yelled.

I yawned and replied, "It's not seven fifty, it's only six fifty. I still have an hour and twenty minutes to get dressed and down to the field, so calm down, Mom."

She started shaking me again. "Uh, you only have twenty minutes to get dressed and down to the field."

After I heard that I quickly got up and packed my uniform. Kelsey told me that you don't take your bags and clothes with you to the field. Instead, you take your things to the locker room then go to the field. She also told me that we can wear whatever we want to practice, so I decided on a white sports bra and soccer shorts. I put my hair in a bun and we headed to the field.

After we dropped our stuff in our locker room we ran out to the field. Right when we got there, the tardy bell rang.

Coach Brown started, "Alright ladies, go ahead and stretch while I'm talking to you."

Everyone started stretching and he continued, "I want to start talking about teamwork. Here on my team, we do everything as a team. For example, if one person back talks to me then the whole team will do the consequences. Sure, the person who did it will do more punishment, but the whole team will do some sort of consequence. The reason I'm bringing this up is because I know that a few of you have already gotten detention. I don't care what the detention is for, but we're going to do some sort of punishment today. I told you guys two days ago at our first practice that some days we're just going to have conditioning practices. Well, we might have one today. I need to know how many of you here have already gotten in trouble. Stand up if you have gotten detention."

I stood up and looked around to see how many other people were standing up. Including me there were six people who stood up. That's almost half the team. I'm scared to think of how much I would be running today.

Coach Brown started again, "Ok you can sit down now." We sat down as he continued, "There are a total of sixteen girls on this team. There are two seniors, six juniors, five sophomores, and three freshmen. On this field you are all one, you aren't on separate teams. You are all one on one team. Those of you who got detention were all honest, so I thank you for that. But there is still the issue of why almost half of this team got detention before school even started!" He sighed angrily and continued, "We are going to have a conditioning practice. Everyone stand up."

We all stood up and he numbered us off into four different groups. I was in group number two. In my group there was me, a senior named Allison, Courtney, and a freshman named Kristen. Different groups had to do different workouts on the field. Since we were on one of the football fields, that made it even more brutal. First, our group had to do lunges from one side of the field to the other until coach blew the whistle. After that we had to do suicides until coach blew the whistle. Then we had to do pushups until he blew the whistle, then lastly we had to do sit ups until he blew the whistle. When we were doing lunges if our knee touched the ground or if our knee didn't get close enough to the ground, everyone started over. When we were doing suicides if someone walked everyone started over. When we did pushups if we stopped, if our stomachs didn't get close enough to the ground, or if our stomachs did touch the ground everyone started over. And when we did sit ups if our feet went off the ground or if we stopped, everyone started over.

After that, my legs and abs were burning. I felt so hot and could feel the sweat drip down my face. I just wanted to go back to my dorm, take a hot shower, and go back to bed.

Coach Brown talked again, "Good work, ladies. I hope you understand how serious I am about teamwork. I will see you all right here after school for some more exercises. You are all dismissed to go get dressed, expect for the people who got detention."

I was all excited when he said we were dismissed, but leave it up to him to crush my excitement. I really hope he just wanted to talk and not make us do more exercises. Once everyone left there was only me, Courtney, Kelsey, Jen, that freshman Kristen, and a sophomore named Bailey.

Coach Brown said, "You six are not done, unfortunately. Don't worry you will still have time to get dressed. There is still twenty minutes left until the dismissal bell. You guys will probably have ten minutes to get dressed."

We had to do ups and downs with quick feet, hold our legs six inches above the ground, and hold the push up position. After that we were done and went inside to get changed.

Before practice I didn't really have time to notice how big the Juniors Girls locker room is, but now that I have time I did. Every girl who played a sport had their own full sized locker. The actual locker wasn't tacky like most lockers. The locker was blue with white polka dots. Each locker had the girls' name above it and the name of the sport they played. The floors were carpeted, in the back there were ten showers and two baths, and there were three full sized mirrors.

I took a _very_ quick shower, dried my hair straight, got my uniform on, did my make up, and put on my new black suede flat knee-boots. I noticed that the skirts were different lengths on each girl. For Courtney and Jen it looked like a mini skirt, for Kelsey it looked normal, and for me it was a little bit short.

The first half of the day zoomed by then before I knew it, it was lunch time. One thing I also noticed about WestWick Academy was that they kept grades separate most of the time. Each grade had their own locker room and freshmen and sophomores had a different lunchtime than the juniors and seniors. Another thing I noticed was that ninety percent of the teachers are strict. Three of my teachers already gave students detention.

"Hey, Steph. How do you like your classes so far?" Kelsey asked as I sat down at one of the lunch tables.

I replied, "They're ok I guess. One thing I don't like is that I have homework for every single class so far."

Kelsey laughed. "I hate to break it to you, but you'll probably have homework every day."

I groaned as someone behind put their hands on my head. I titled my head back and saw Ashton hovering over me. He put his hands on my cheeks and gave me a kiss and sat down next to me.

"Hey, babe," Ashton said to me.

I smiled and teased him, "Hey, cutie. Wow, look at you working that sexy uniform." I took a bite of my pizza.

"I thought I looked sexy in everything I wear," Ashton teased back.

I took another bite. After I finished chewing I asked Ashton, "Hey what did you guys do at your soccer practice?"

"Well everyone but me actually practiced soccer. I just did different conditioning stuff the whole freaking time."

"Why didn't you practice with the rest of the team?"

"Because I'm the only one who got detention."

At that moment Amy walked up to our table. She was smiling, but when she saw that Ashton was sitting next to me her smile quickly faded.

"What are you doing?" Amy demanded.

Ashton smiled and replied, "I'm sitting with my girlfriend. What are you doing?"

Amy held up her hand and said, "Shut up and get up. You're sitting in my spot."

I faced Amy and said, "You shut up. He's not hurting anybody. In fact, you're the only one who cares that he's here. So don't tell _my_ boyfriend to shut up and get up. How about you either shut your mouth and sit down, or go run off somewhere and cry about how Ashton is sitting here."

Kelsey leaned forward to me and whispered, "I'm really sorry, but Amy has always sat there and Ashton has never sat with us. I think Amy should sit there. I'm sorry, Stephanie."

I looked around at the other people sitting at our table. I was trying to see if anyone was going to backup me and Ashton. I waited, but nobody said anything. I guess I had no real friends here. Wait. Yes I did. I knew for a fact that Kelsey and Brittney were my friends. It was only Amy who wasn't.

After moments of silence Ashton finally spoke to me, "Come on, babe. It's ok."

Without another word, I picked up my food and walked away. Ashton was following right behind me. I had no idea where to sit. All the other tables were full and juniors weren't allowed to sit in the upper level of the cafeteria.

"Let's just sit at my table," Ashton said.

I replied sarcastically, "Yes, because I've always wanted to see adolescent guys eat lunch."

He laughed and we started walking towards his table. Five people were sitting at the table. I recognized Tyler, Chuck, and Allison. Why was Allison sitting with them? Well she did hook up with Chuck at the party last night. No matter who (or since its Chuck it would be a what) she likes, I like her. The only reason I know her is from soccer. I think she is a senior this year, but I'm not entirely sure.

I sat down next to Ashton and Allison. Ashton spoke to the entire table, "For all of you who don't know this amazing girl next to me, she is my girlfriend and her name is Stephanie." Ashton turned to me and said, "Next to you is Allison, next to her is her boyfriend, Nick; next to Nick is Tyler, and then it's Chuck, then Adam."

I smiled and said, "Yeah I know Allison, Chuck, and Tyler." I turned to Nick and said, "It's nice to meet you." I then faced Adam and continued, "Nice to meet you too."

Tyler looked at Ashton and did a mischievous smile. He then turned to me and said, "I believe the last time we talked I might have let some things slipped out. I just wanted to tell you that I am sorry."

"It's ok?" my reply sounded more like a question.

I looked at Tyler and noticed some things about him. From what Kelsey told me, Tyler is a jock; he plays football, basketball, cross country, and track. He is also the type of guy who dates a different girl every two weeks. He dumps the girl when she starts to talk about moving forward in their relationship.

Brittney told me about Nick. From what I know about him, he is shy at first, but when you get to know him he gets obnoxiously loud. He is one of the bigger talkers in class and still manages to make straight A's. He wears glasses, has a sexy laugh, has Bill Gates as an uncle, and used to model for American Eagle.

"So how many of you have Brown next period? I swear if I'm alone then I will kill myself," Chuck asked.

Tyler said, "Me."

"I do, sadly," Ashton said.

Nick said, "Yup."

"Hell to the yeah! This is going to be freaking sweet!" Tyler said like a child who just got a new toy.

I smiled and everyone laughed expect Chuck. He was staring directly at me. Did I have something in my teeth? I let me smile fade. I pretended to drop my napkin so I could check. I stuck my finger in my mouth and wiped off my teeth. It didn't feel like anything was in any tooth. When I got back up he was still staring.

Chuck then said to me, "What about you, New Girl? Do you have Brown too?"

"Yes," I replied shyly.

"Alright then," he said.

The rest of the lunch period was basically an argument on if Director Brown was stupid enough to let them sit next to each other. Once the dismissal bell rang, Ashton and I walked to English together.

When the tardy bell rang everyone was still standing around and talking. I looked around to see if there was anybody I knew in this class. I saw Courtney, Amy, Kelsey, Matt, Jeff, Chloe, Chuck, Nick, Tyler, and Ashton.

"Everybody be quiet!" Director Brown yelled. That got almost everyone quiet. I heard one person laughing. I looked to see who it was and it was Chuck. He was laughing at something Tyler told him.

Director Brown looked at Chuck and said sternly, "Chuck."

Chuck stopped laughing when he saw Director Brown looking at him. "Yeah, Brown?" he replied happily.

Director Brown just stared at him with his eyebrows raised. Chuck then said, "I'll stop talking now, sir."

"Thank you." He was speaking to the whole class now, "Ok before you ask, yes you do have assigned seats."

He showed each of us where to sit. My seat was in the middle row in the second chair. Behind me was Chuck, in front of me was Matt, to my left was Courtney, to my right was Kelsey, and in front of Kelsey was Ashton. The good news was that I had Kelsey and Ashton next to me. The bad news was that I was by Courtney and her boyfriend, and Chuck; and to the right of Chuck there was Nick. I had a feeling that Nick and Chuck by each other was not a good idea.

Director Brown said, "I am being nice here. I let most of you be by one of your friends, but I'm telling you now that I will move you if I have to. If I move you then that means you have an automatic week of detention," he clapped his hands. "Ok, now that we have that behind us let's start class. Wait. I forgot to tell you guys that y'all are my biggest class. Your class is the only full class I have, that means that I'll be watching what you do more closely. Ok, _now_ let's get started."

He passed out books to each of the students. Once I got mine I looked to see what we're reading first. The book was _Of Mice and Men_, great. I get to read a book about two farmer boys. That is pretty exciting.

Director Brown started again, "In this class we are basically going to be doing two things. We are going to read and we are going to write. We will be doing both of those a lot. We will probably read about ten to fifteen books this semester. We will also be doing a lot of writing like essay's, creative writing, we will also write poetry, and do analysis papers on different selections of writing. The first book we will read is _Of Mice and Men_. It is by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck is an amazing writer, he uses a lot of symbolism in this book and you should be able to pick up on it. Ok, go ahead and flip open to the first page."

Director Brown was calling on people to read. If he called on you, you were to read a full page. I zoned out after the second page though. I was thinking about home and about _that night_. I would give anything to take back what I did. I regret it so much. How stupid was I? I admit though that did make me a stronger person. Then I thought about Karen. What would happen if someone found her? She would obviously tell the police what she saw. I can't even imagine if that happened.

Then a note flew on my desk that interrupted my thoughts. On the front of the folded piece of notebook paper, it read To Stephanie; From Kelsey. I opened it up and the note read:

Hey, Stephanie. I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am about what happened at lunch. It was nothing, so please don't get mad. You just have to understand that Amy's breakup was and still is a big deal for her. Anyways, I hope you're not mad.

I wrote back:

I am not mad at you. I mean... yeah I kind of am mad at Amy, but not at you. I am not one to hold grudges (not at you anyways, haha). So yeah. Hey does Director Brown give a lot of homework**?**

As I tossed it on her desk I felt something pull my hair. I decided to ignore it. I needed to find where the class was in the book incase Director Brown called on me to read. I felt the pulling again. I turned around and saw that Chuck was pulling my hair.

I whispered to him, "Wow, could you be anymore juvenile? Grow up." As soon as I faced forward I felt him twirling my hair. I turned back around and said, "Oh my gosh, Chuck. Freaking stop it." I realized that I said it too loudly.

"Is there a problem, Stephanie?" Director Brown asked.

I faced him and flashed a quick smile. "No."

"Good. Maybe you can read a page for us now," he replied.

Crap. I still didn't know where we were. I was still on the first page. I flipped it. After a few moments I said, "I don't know where we are."

Director Brown sighed and shook his head. "See me after class." He faced Chuck and asked, "Can you read for us, Chuck? Or were you asleep?"

Chuck smiled and said, "I don't really like to fall asleep on the first day of class; I like to make a good impression. As for the reading I do know where we are, but I don't really feel like reading. I think I'll pass."

Director Brown smiled back. "You can see me after class too and as for the reading, that wasn't a suggestion."

"So are you saying that I _need_ to read?"

"Chuck-"

Then the dismissal bell rang. As students gathered their things Director Brown said, "Read the first three chapters for homework. Prepare for a quiz."

Ashton walked up to me and kissed my cheek. "I'll see you later," he said before he left.

Chuck and I were the only students left in the room. Director Brown faced me and said, "Stephanie your homework is the same as the other students, and you are also going to write me a two thousand word paper on Steinbeck. Tell me why you think he wanted to become a writer."

"Why should I do that? Is it because I didn't know where I was because of the idiotic moron who sits behind me?"

Chuck said innocently, "I did not do a single thing to you, Stephanie."

"You pulled my freaking hair."

"Why would I do that? That is so…juvenile." He repeated my own words to me. I told him that was juvenile. Why was he doing this to me? I don't even know the guy.

Director Brown then said, "Let's make that a five thousand word paper instead of two thousand. If you don't want it to turn into ten thousand then I suggest you keep your mouth shut." He faced Chuck and said, "You are going to do the same thing Stephanie is doing."

"Which version of it? The two thousand or the five thousand?" Chuck asked nonchalantly.

"For you it's three thousand words. Both of you can leave now."

As soon as we were out of the door I slapped his shoulder. He knew he deserved it, but he acted all appalled.

"Ouch. Why? Why did you do that?" He had a gleam in his eyes.

"What the hell was that back there? Are you six years old now?"

He had a big smile now. "I don't know what you're talking about, but you did accuse me of…what was it? Pulling your hair? Yeah, well that is a lie and you know it, but I'm sure there is some way you can apologize to me."

I realized that the top two buttons came undone on my shirt. Now I knew what he was talking about. He is so disgusting.

While I was re-buttoning it, the tardy bell rang. "Thanks, Chuck. Now I'm late to physics."

His eyebrows rose as he said, "So am I. How about we walk there together, maybe get lost somewhere in a closet?" He filled the gap between us, put one hand on my cheek, and leaned in for a kiss.

This time instead of slapping his shoulder, I slapped his face. I said sternly, "Let me make this clear, you disgust me. We will _never_ be together, so stop wasting your time and mine."

As I was walking away he yelled, "You just keep thinking that. Sooner or later all girls want me."

I turned around and replied, "I thought we've already established that I'm not most girls."

The next two periods went by really slow. My physics teacher, Director Adams, gave a big lecture about how being tardy wouldn't suffice in her class. I blanked out for the most part. I noticed that Chuck never showed up for physics though. He must have found some poor girl to screw around with. Whatever. Who cares about him anyways?

After physics I had dance. Dance was hard and boring to say at the least. Coach Hughes gave us our uniforms and we spent like half of the time conditioning and the other half doing high kicks. My legs were already sore from soccer, but now they're burning.

_Wow. I am really out of shape. _

For my last period I have foreigns. I've heard Director Collins is almost as strict as Director Brown. As soon as I walked in his class I saw that everyone here is everyone I know. It was a small class, but at least I knew everyone. I also saw Chuck. When he saw me, he started to walk towards me.

Chuck said happily, "There you are. You know, I have been waiting for you." I looked at his tie and noticed that it was undone. He noticed that I noticed it. "Oops. Looks like I haven't fixed my tie from the last two periods." He gave a suggestive smile.

I scoffed as I started to walk away. When I saw that he was following me I said, "Give my best to the poor girl."

"I think you could do that yourself considering you know her."

After I heard that I stopped walking. "Please. Which one of my friends would be slumming it for you?"

"Did I say she was your friend?"

Ok so if she's not my friend then it's either Courtney or Jen. They both have boyfriends, but knowing them they probably would. I doubt they would do it with Chuck though. I tried to think of more people, but I couldn't. Then I thought of someone else, one person who was jealous of Ashton and I.

I then said, "It was Amy wasn't it? Well I hate to break it to you, but I made her feel bad about Ashton during lunch. So she probably only did it with you because she felt bad."

He laughed. "You think I care about the reason someone sleeps with me? I really don't care why. And about the whole Amy thing, I knew she was upset. She told me she was."

"Why would she tell you?"

"Let's just say we've done it a few times before. The first time was because she was tired with her boyfriend, the second time was to get revenge on her boyfriend, then this last time she was upset."

When he said this to me something clicked. I don't know what made me think of it, but something reminded me. Before I said anything to him I had to be sure; before I got defensive I had to be sure.

With a shaky voice I asked, "Was the first time with her last year?" Once he nodded I asked another question, "In a dorm room?"

"Sadly, yes. I am normally a bit classier than that, but for her I made an exception."

Then I was sure I was right.

"I can't believe you! You're the one who had sex with her while she and Ashton were still together! You're the one Ashton walked in on."

He looked down and said, "Yes, but-"

"Wait a second. If you're the reason they broke up then why is he still friends with you?"

"Ashton thinks it was his roommate. When he walked in on us he was only in the room for a few seconds before he stormed off. It was Amy who ran after him. I did look like his roommate last year, and his roommate was planning on transferring to Brooksville this year. When Amy and Ashton's breakup was official I just figured I should let him think it was his roommate."

"You mean he doesn't know it was you! What's stopping me from telling the truth?"

"Because if you do tell him, that would hurt him so bad. Think about what would happen if he found out one of his best friends slept with his ex. You know that would tear him apart. So you're not going to say anything. Besides, a secret doesn't hurt anybody."

He was right. That would tear Ashton apart. I couldn't tell him. Not now, not ever. If I did then that would be the end of us. He would accuse me of keeping too many things from him. I just won him back. I'm not going to lose him again.

Chuck continued, "You see that I'm right."

"Why are you after Ashton's girlfriends? First it was Amy, now it's me."

He shrugged. "It's nothing personal."

"Well I am _not_ Amy. I'm not going to cheat on Ashton, especially not with you."

"Really? Because I heard about you and Clint at Starbucks."

I saw that Ashton walked in the room. I ran over to him and hugged him. I lifted my chin up and kissed him. I kissed him hard and passionately. I could feel Chuck's jealous eyes still watching me. Then I felt someone pull us apart. When I looked up I saw who it was.

Crap. It was Director Collins.

He said to us, "That is never going to happen in my class again." He faced Ashton, "Since it's the first day I'll let you off with a warning." He faced me, "That is never. Happening. Again." He said that those last few words so slowly. Each word sounded like a different sentence.

I nodded and said, "Yes, sir." I looked at Ashton and mouthed, "I love you."

Ashton replied out loud, "I love you, too."

Then the tardy bell rang. Director Collins showed us where our assigned seats were. I sat in the very back. I liked this seat, in this seat I could do whatever I wanted and Director Collins wouldn't see me. To my right and left were Ashton and Courtney. In front of me was Kelsey. This wasn't too bad. I only had to worry about Courtney. At least I was by Ashton.

I noticed that Director Collins was very cute. He had light brown hair and light blue eyes. He wasn't too tall or too short. He was also wearing a black suit with a purple tie.

Director Collins said to the class, "Welcome to foreigns. My name is Director Collins. In this class we'll be studying Greek, Hebrew, Italian, French, Korean, and many more languages. The first language we will be studying is Italian. We are going to start with the basics. Everyone get out a sheet of paper and write what I write."

He walked over to the whiteboard and wrote:

a) Il mio nome è_

b) Ciao. Arrivederci.

c) Grazi. Il tuo benvenuto.

He faced the class again and said, "Ok everyone look at letter a. That one sentence is going to be on every one of your worksheets, quizzes, and tests for the next two weeks. Il mio nome è, means my name is. Now if we have time at the end of class we can go around the room and I'll tell you what your name in Italian is."

He told us each of the words we wrote on the board. He checked is watch and we had ten minutes.

"Ok, we have time for me to tell you your name in Italian. If I were you then I would write it down because I'll take points off if you just write it in English. Let's start in the back with Ashton. Ashton Brown in Italian is, Ashton Marrone."

He kept going on and once he reached me I found out mine is the same in English. Once the bell rang he said, "Your homework for tonight is to study the words you wrote down and to come up with five sentences using those words. Those of you who have detention can just go ahead and stay here."

Detention went by really fast. All I did was write an essay then read. Once detention was over with, Kelsey reminded me that we had a soccer practice after school. We hurried to the locker room and got changed. When we got out to the field we saw that they were just running.

"You ladies can join them. When I tell them to stop, y'all just keep going," Coach Brown said as we walked up to him.

After twenty minutes of running he told us to stop. Once the team was together he said to everyone, "The reason I keep conditioning you guys is because our first game is on Saturday. We need to be in shape in order to play soccer at a varsity level, so that's why starting tomorrow we will be through having just conditioning the whole practice. Tomorrow morning I will be assigning positions. So all of you expect for the detention people are dismissed."

Once everyone left Coach Brown said to us, "At our very first practice last Saturday I said that if anyone got detention then they would be assigned an extra conditioning practice with me. Well, that extra practice will be held tomorrow before school. Some of you are going to have more than one because you got a lot of detention. Ok so raise your hand if you got a month of detention or more."

I was the only one who raised my hand. He continued, "Raise your hand if you got three weeks." Courtney and Jen raised their hands. "Two weeks." A sophomore and a freshman raised their hands. "One week." Kelsey raised her hand.

He then said, "Ok. Stephanie go ahead and be out here at five thirty. Courtney and Jen be out here at six thirty. Kristen and Bailey be out here at seven. Kelsey be here at seven fifteen. The people who will be having more than one are Stephanie, Courtney, and Jen. Oh, and be prepared because the guys who got detention on the guys soccer team are going to be out here with us. Y'all can go ahead and leave now."

As soon as I got back to my dorm I took a shower, did homework, studied, ate a bowl of cereal, and then I remembered that I needed to write in my diary. I usually write in it once a week. The last time I wrote in it was the day before my mom dropped me off here. I picked up my diary and wrote:

Dear Diary,

Hey there diary. Today is August 21 and my first day at WestWick Academy. A lot has happened in the last week. Right now my current boyfriend is Ashton. I love him, but there are two people in the way of it. Chuck and Amy….and sort of Clint. Chuck keeps pressuring me to do it with him, but I can not do it to Ashton. I also keep thinking about Karen. I do not know where she is, but I do know that she knows what I did. After she found out she ran away. She went off somewhere and I have not heard from her since. The only other people who know are Bryce and the person who keeps threatening me. I think that person is either Amy or Courtney. But yeah, I will talk to you in a week!

-xoxo


	24. Giving in…Almost

Giving in…Almost

"The heart wants what it wants."- Woody Allen

The next few weeks were surprisingly good. Mine and Ashton's relationship was great. Each Friday and Saturday night we would stay in his hotel room. We went out at least once a week, sometimes to dinner or to see movie. We also had mini make out sessions a few times a week. I was almost ready to go into the next step with him. _Almost_ ready to. I wanted to talk about it with him and see if he wanted to do it too.

Another good thing was that Clint and I were back to being friends. A few days after the party, he apologized and said that he overreacted. We hung out at least two days a week. Sometimes we even hung out on a Saturday afternoon or night. I think that he is probably becoming one of my best friends. We have plans later today to go see a movie.

Lately Director Brown has been off of my case, which is definitely a great thing. I was assigned as center forward in soccer, which is what I was hoping for. So far our team is undefeated, so that made Coach/Director Brown very happy. I have been ok with my grades. I could do better, but I could also be doing worse. The only bad thing that was happening is that person keeps sending me texts. He/she is trying to make me cheat on Ashton, but I refuse every time. I just think this person is full of empty threats and promises. All talk and no action.

I also went to Brooksville that first Saturday, because that's where my mom has been sending my allowance. I went to their administration building and told them that my mother has been sending my weekly allowance there accidentally. They then set it up to where my money automatically goes to WestWick. I don't know how they did that, but they did. So now I had four hundred dollars and wanted to go on a shopping spree with Kelsey sometime soon.

"Hey so I was thinking that maybe we could check out that restaurant, Candleworks. I know how much you love seafood and they're one of the best seafood restaurants in town," Ashton said to me as we were on his couch watching television.

I sighed and said, "That sounds really nice, but how about tomorrow? I mean since tonight is Friday shouldn't they be really busy?"

"You don't think they'll be busy tomorrow? Tomorrow is Saturday, which is considered date night for most couples." He smiled and teased, "I knew you were slow, but I didn't know you were _that_ slow."

I giggled. "Well that's just part of my charm."

"Yeah, I guess so." He laughed and continued seriously, "But why don't you want to go tonight?"

I explained, "No I do want to go, just not tonight. I'm seeing a movie with a friend and I can't change plans last minute. It's rude."

I was lying down on the couch with my head on his lap. I got up so I could look at him. He looked suspicious about something. I don't know why though, he knew that Clint and I were friends again.

"Who are you seeing a movie with?" he asked suspiciously.

I looked down and said, "Clint."

Ashton exhaled loudly. I looked up to see him shaking his head. He said, "You've been spending a lot of time with him, Stephanie. Are you sure nothing else is going on?"

I replied sweetly, "I'm positive, Ashton. Listen, he is just a friend. I wouldn't care if you had a friend who's a girl."

"You would if that friend was Amy." He looked at the painting above his bed then back at me. "You have to admit that if Amy and I were spending that much time together, then yeah you would be a little suspicious."

"But Clint and I were never in a serious relationship like you and Amy were." I took his face in my hands and said, "I love you, Ashton. When are you going to learn that I'm not going to kiss anyone again?"

He smiled and said, "You better kiss someone again." Then he leaned forward and touched his soft lips to mine. After he kissed me he said, "That someone is me by the way. In case you didn't know."

I laughed. "Oh, really?"

He gave me another kiss. It was a short kiss, but it was still sweet and passionate.

Once we were done I said, "Besides, I am more into the sexy southern guys and not the slightly cute British guys."

His eyebrows rose. "Oh so you admit that he's cute?"

I rolled my eyes, I knew he was joking. I stood up and said, "You know what?"

"What?" he replied cockily.

I sat down on his lap and shifted our bodies so that my chest was touching his. "You need to learn how to control your mouth." I leaned forward to kiss him, but he moved his head away.

"And how do I learn how to control it?"

"I think I have a few ideas."

We both laughed then we kissed for like half an hour.

"There you are. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up," Clint said as he leaned in for a hug.

I leaned forward and hugged him. "Why wouldn't I show up?"

He shrugged and said, "I don't know. Anyways do you still want to see that movie?"

"Why do you not want to anymore?"

"Well I was thinking we could still watch a movie, but at my house. Don't worry about Kelsey, Blake, or Ian. Kelsey stayed at WestWick and my brothers are out of town." He smiled and continued, "It will just be us."

Wow. He wanted me to come to his house? Why? What would Ashton think? Oh please, he would be furious. He would think that I was having an affair and he would end us. But I technically wasn't doing anything wrong. As long as I stayed in control, then what's the harm of me going over there? We are just going to watch a movie after all.

I gave a convincing smile and said, "Sure. It sounds like fun."

Once Clint and I got into his home, I realized how rich he was. His house was three stories high, all of his furniture was amazing and it also looked expensive. His kitchen was five times the size of any kitchen I had ever seen before. I also noticed that there were three stacks of notebooks by the big, flat-screen computer. It looked like there were five notebooks in each stack. I walked over to the living room and on my way there I walked through a huge dining room. Once I finally reached the living room I was relieved.

I set my coat on the arm of the black and white Formenti Italian couch. Right in front of the couch was a fifty inch plasma screen television. I looked around and I saw a fireplace and pictures. There were pictures everywhere. There were pictures of Clint, Kelsey, Ian, Blake, other people I didn't know, nature, and animals.

I said, "I'm guessing that you're into photography?"

He laughed. "How could you tell?"

"Lucky guess."

"Blake is a photographer and Ian use to be. Now, Blake and his wife have their own photography company."

"Blake is amazing. If I ever need pictures taken, I'm calling him," I finished admiring their pictures and looked at Clint. I smiled and went on, "So what movie are we watching?"

Clint looked confused at first, then after a few moments realization came over his face, "Oh. Well, to be honest I just wanted to come here and talk. I didn't want to watch a movie."

_If we weren't going to watch a movie then what did he plan on us doing?_

I replied, "Talk about what?"

"Talk about whatever you want to talk about."

We sat down on the couch. I started, "What are in those notebooks?" he looked confused so I tried again, "I saw those three stacks of notebooks by your computer. What's in them?"

He looked down as if he were embarrassed. "You don't really know this about me, but I like words. Before you laugh, I like words as in quotes or good lines in books or movies. Each stack has something different in them. In one stack it has my favorite quotes from books and movies. In another stack it is quotes that I looked up on the internet and in the last stack it is my poetry."

"Whoa. You write poetry? That's really-"

Clint interrupted, "Yes I know it's really weird."

"I was going to say sweet. Girls love guys who can write." I paused for a few seconds. Things were getting weird between us. I tried to change the subject, "You said that you look up quotes on the computer?"

"Yes. I search quotes on different topics when I am bored. My favorite quotes are the ones where the person who said it is unknown."

"Why?" I noticed that during this entire conversation we were looking into each other's eyes.

He replied, "I can feel for them. How would you feel if you wrote something very intellectual or insightful, but nobody knows it was you who wrote it? Your work would be unacknowledged. The quote doesn't necessarily have to be intellectual, only…good."

"What is your favorite quote?" I asked.

He slid towards a little bit before saying, "I have many favorites, but here is one of them: Love is a symbol of eternity," he started to stroke my face with his fingers, "it wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end."

I couldn't really say anything after that. That quote was true, when you're in love it seems like nothing else exists. When you're in love you only care about your boyfriend or girlfriend. I leaned in towards Clint and he did the same. We were so close that our noses were almost touching; I could feel his breath on my face. I knew we shouldn't be doing this, but it felt so right. The only thing that was imperfect about this moment was that there were sirens pretty close. I closed my eyes and tried to block out the noise. I leaned in closer, but then my phone interrupted us. I backed away from him awkwardly and slowly and answered it.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Am I talking with Stephanie Peterson?"

"Yes. Who am I speaking with?"

As our conversation carried on, my heart almost stopped. I had to go. I had to get out of here and go see him. I stood up quickly, but Clint grabbed my wrist.

"What are you doing? I have to go," I quickly asked.

"Whatever it is, it can wait. Please just stay."

"I'm sorry, Clint. This was a mistake."

"Ok, listen. I've been avoiding this, but I have to tell you now. I…I…I really like you, Stephanie. I think…I think I'm falling in love with you."

I looked down and sighed. Why was he falling for me? I just wanted to be friends with him, even though I felt something too. But I love Ashton way more than I love Clint.

I looked up at him teary-eyed and said, "I'm sorry, Clint." Then I ran out the door.


	25. A SOL's Lucky Night

A S.O.L.'s Lucky Night

"Nothing happens by chance. There is no such thing as luck. There's a meaning behind every little thing, and such a meaning behind this. Part for you, part for me, may not see it all real clear right now, but we will, before long."-Richard Bach

"Where is he? Is he ok?" I demanded as I walked in the hospital doors.

A doctor turned around and asked me, "Are you Stephanie Peterson?"

"Yes. Now where is he?"

"Right this way." As we walked down the hall the doctor said, "We've already contacted the legal guardian, but he said he can't come right now, but he'll be here as soon as he can. Because of that, it looks like you'll be the only visitor he will be having for a while."

We walked into the room _he_ was in. Once I saw him, I started to cry immediately. Once I saw that he had a swollen black eye, a bandage covering his forehead, his legged being propped up because it was probably broken, his left arm bandaged, and all that dried blood on his face; I started to cry like I have never cried before.

While still looking at him I asked the doctor, "How did you get my phone number?"

"The legal guardian told me that I should probably call you. He gave me your phone number and told me to tell you that he'll be here as soon as he can."

I walked over to him and gently put my hand on his cheek. I whispered, "Oh, Ashton." I then asked the doctor, "Where did you find him? What street?"

The doctor put glasses on and read a clipboard. When he told me the street name I thought that sounded familiar. When I thought about it for a few moments, I figured it out. The street sounded so familiar because it was Clint's street. Ashton got in that horrible car accident on Clint's street.

Then it hit me. When I was about to kiss Clint, and I kept hearing those sirens…those sirens were for Ashton. Ashton got in the car wreck right in front of where I was about to cheat on him. That call I got from the doctor was telling me about Ashton. Without that call I would have kissed Clint.

_Why was Ashton on Clint's street? Did he find out that I went to his house and not the movies? Was he going somewhere and it happened to be a coincidence that it was on Clint's street? I doubt that last reason was true. _

"I'm guessing Ashton is knocked out from the meds you gave him?" I asked the doctor.

The doctor slowly replied, "We haven't given him any medicine that would make him go to sleep." He saw that I was confused so he continued, "When the ambulance brought him here he was already unconscious."

"What does that mean?" I asked nervously.

"It means that as soon as he hit the other car, he was unconscious immediately."

"So he's been knocked out this whole time?" The doctor nodded. "But he's going to wake up eventually right?" The doctor didn't say anything. I started to cry harder. "Right?"

"We can discuss these things when his legal guardian gets here."

At that time, like on cue, Director Brown walked in the door. He told the doctor, "I am so sorry I couldn't get here sooner. I had three meetings tonight that I thought I couldn't cancel, but I when I found out that I could I told my secretary to go ahead and cancel the rest of them for tonight." He looked over and gave me a quick smile. Then he saw Ashton. I could've sworn I saw his eyes get glassy.

The doctor asked him, "Are you Michael Brown?"

"Yes," he replied.

"I suppose we should discuss what happened to him and our options."

We walked out in the hall way. The doctor continued, "Ashton got into a serious car accident. A drunk driver hit a different car and that car hit Ashton's truck. When the police searched his car they found an empty beer bottle and one that was half way full. Because of that, they do think that Ashton was intoxicated at the time. They also want to ask Ashton some questions when he wakes up-"

Director Brown interrupted, "I understand, but can we talk about his injuries?"

"Absolutely. When the car hit him, his truck flipped over. Once his car flipped, the drunk driver's car hit the bed of his truck. That caused the car to swerve very fast, and then he hit his head on the concrete-"

This time I interrupted, "What does that have to do with-"

Director Brown rubbed my arm and said, "It's okay, Stephanie." He faced the doctor. "Please continue."

"So anyways, he is in a coma right now. We are doing our best to keep him stable, but he might not wake up for a while. We're hoping that it lasts a few days at the most, but it might be weeks or even months until he does wake up."

When he said that, I dropped to the ground and started to cry again. The doctor said months.

_Months_? I can't live without Ashton for even a day. I literally have to see him at least once a day.

The doctor continued, "He does have other injuries, but we are mainly focused on his coma. The other injuries include a broken leg, three broken ribs, a sprained wrist, a swollen eye, and a dislocated shoulder." He looked down and shook his head. While still looking down he said, "I know how much you are both hurting right now, but you're lucky that he's alive. He should have easily been killed, but he wasn't. That to me is a miracle." He looked back up and was professional again. "I'll leave you two to talk for a moment."

The doctor walked away and Director Brown sat on the floor next to me. He saw that I was still crying hard, so he put his arm around me. I buried my face in his shirt.

He tried to comfort me, "Shhh. It's okay. He's going to be fine."

"You don't know that."

There was a moment where neither of us spoke. I knew that he was skeptical of Ashton waking up.

"You're right. I don't know that." He lifted my face up so I could see him. He continued, "I want to be here for my brother, but I can't. I can't get someone to cover my classes for weeks or months." He paused. After a few moments he started to speak again, "I can't be here, but you can."

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"I want someone to be here with my brother until he wakes up. You can be here with him. I can drop by after school and give you your homework and you can wait here with him night and day."

_Was this some sort of sick joke? He is never this nice. Why was he doing this?_

I asked him teary eyed, "Why would you let me do that?"

He answered sweetly, "Because you love him and I can see that you obviously care about him."

If he knew about what I almost did at Clint's house then he would certainly not be saying that. I have to admit that I am flattered that he said that about me and Ashton though. I had no idea that he could be this nice.

I didn't really know what to say after that. I just simply said, "What about detention and soccer?"

"I can find a replacement in soccer and as for the detention, I'll consider each day you spend here two days of detention." He smiled that cute smile I recognized on Ashton and said, "Looking after my brother is a notorious job that is considered one hell of a detention."

I laughed and said, "Thank you."

I don't know what was going on here. I didn't understand why Director Brown was being so nice. That was when I realized that he cares for his brother and that he loves him. Deep, deep, deep down inside of Director Brown was a human being. I saw that human for the first time that night. Hopefully that night wouldn't be the last time I saw it.


	26. Bittersweet

Bittersweet

"Your past always catches up with you."-Anonymous

Every single day since that Friday, I was always by Ashton's side. I had a routine though. I would sleep in Ashton's penthouse suite at the hotel and when I woke up I would get coffee, and I would just watch and talk to Ashton. I knew that he couldn't hear me, but I still liked to talk with him. Occasionally I would watch the TV in his room, but I would rarely do that. During the nights, Director Brown would stop by and give me my homework then on the next night I would turn it in and he would give me the next load.

I waited for Ashton to wake up. I waited for days. The days turned into weeks and I was still waiting. Every single minute I was over there, I basically begged him to wake up; he never did.

On the third week I came in his room after I got my coffee. I looked at him and said, "I'm back."

I sat down and took a sip. I continued, "I've been wanting to tell you something, Ashton. I don't really know where to begin but here it goes." I looked down and sighed. Even though he couldn't hear me, I still felt horrible admitting this. "On the night of your crash I almost kissed Clint." I started to cry. "I am so, so sorry. I know I said that wouldn't happen again, but something just clicked between us and before I knew it we were almost kissing. The only thing that stopped us from kissing was you. Thank you, Ashton. You have _no_ idea how sorry I am."

After I admitted that, I felt somewhat better. I knew that I had to tell him when he could actually hear me, but I think it's going to be easier the second time.

There was something else though that I want to tell him. I want to tell him now because of two reasons. Reason number one: I want to tell someone to get it off of my chest. Reason number two: If I told him now, then he would technically know my secret without me having to bring it up again. Either way, I would probably _never _mention it again.

I didn't know where to begin, so I just started, "I want to tell you something else, Ashton. It's something that I've only told one other person." I started to tear up again. I can't believe that I was about to tell Ashton my secret. Ever since that night I've tried to block out that _horrible_ memory. I only have regret and sorrow for that night; I have no happiness or joy in what I did. I just wish I could take it back…

I just closed my eyes and started to tell my love what happened to the ones I used to love, "There was this one night about a year ago. My dad had been drinking—I had been drinking too. He thought it would be fun to play 'I never'. After fifteen or twenty minutes of playing, he started to tell me things. Things that made me _hate_ him and things that just pissed me off. When he told me something that he had done to my mom, I just-"

Then I heard a coughing noise. I opened my eyes quickly and set my coffee down. I thought it was nurse who coughed, but I looked at the door and nobody was there. Then I looked at Ashton and saw that he finally woke up. His eyes were open and he was coughing. I ran over to him and the tears began pouring out of my eyes.

"Hang on, baby. I'm going to get a nurse."

I ran to door and started yelling, "Someone help! Please! I need a nurse!"

A nurse started running towards me. He said, "What's wrong?"

"My boyfriend just woke up."

We ran back to Ashton's room as fast as we could. When we got there I started to see red liquid coming out of Ashton's mouth. It only came out once, but one time was enough to make the nurse very anxious.

He started to run towards Ashton, but Ashton put his hands up to stop him.

"I'm fine," Ashton said tiredly. His voice sounded horrible. When he talked you could tell that he was in pain. Ashton tried sitting up, but the nurse stopped him.

The nurse spoke to me in a loud voice, "I'm going to get his doctor. Make sure that he doesn't move at all."

When the nurse left I moved my chair over by Ashton's bed. I started crying again. I started talking to him in a softly, "You have no idea how happy I am that you're awake, baby. I've missed you so much." I grabbed his hand and tried to kiss it, but he pulled it away.

He hesitated before he spoke. "You don't have to lie to me, Stephanie." I made a confused face, but he continued. "I know that you haven't missed me, you've had Clint to keep you company."

He knew that I betrayed him. I have no idea how he knew, but he did. I put my face in my hands and thought about how I could justify my actions. I thought about for what seemed like five hours, but I came up short.

I looked at Ashton's eyes and said, "I can explain-"

"Glad to see you awake, Ashton," The doctor said as he walked in the door.

He picked up some clipboards and started to write things down. He continued talking to Ashton, "Since you've been unconscious for about a month, I'm going to do some tests to make sure that you haven't been mentally impaired."

I looked at the doctor and said, "I'm going to call his brother and tell him he's awake."

After I called Director Brown, I walked back in Ashton's room. I saw the doctor moving a pen and Ashton following it. He wrote some things down then started to ask him questions.

He started to ask him questions like, "Do you know your name?", "Where do you go to school?", "What is your brother's name?"

After about half an hour of stupid questions like those, the doctor concluded that Ashton did not suffer mentally. He also said that Ashton should be out of the hospital in less than a week.

Once the doctor left, Ashton looked at me and said, "So is your amnesia better?"

I sighed. Apparently Ashton hasn't forgotten about Clint. I don't know if Ashton is ever going to forgive me, but I'm sort of getting sick of his crap.

"Why would you think I had amnesia?" I asked simply.

"Because on the night of my accident, I remember that you told me specifically that you were seeing a movie with Clint and _not_ going anywhere else." He raised his eyebrows. "So I'll just assume that you forgot and didn't lie to me."

I shook my head. Why was he doing this? He knew that I couldn't justify myself, so why was he nagging me on? Does he want to push me to my breaking point?

"Ashton, how did you even find out-"

"Doesn't matter. Just tell me one thing." He looked down, as if hurt. When he looked back up I saw his glassy eyes. "Tell me why."

I blinked and leaned against my chair. "I honestly just wanted to see a movie, Ashton, but Clint wanted to show me his house. When we got there we started talking." I closed my eyes and remembered what he told me. "Then he told me something—well quoted something actually."

"What was it?" he asked me.

"I seriously don't remember. All I remember about it was that it had something to do with love. I thought it was sweet and before I knew it I was almost kissing him."

He gave a pathetic and joyless laugh that turned into a cough. "So you're telling me that you wanted to kiss Clint because he quoted something to you?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "Ashton, please just stop." I put my hand on his hand and to my surprise, he didn't pull away. "What does this mean for us, as a couple? Just…just tell me what you're thinking. Please."

"I'm thinking that I need to think about us. I mean, this is the second time that you've ran off with Clint, Stephanie. I can't just forgive and forget. I have to actually think about if I can trust you."

"Well when will you know for sure?"

"I don't know, Stephanie. I'll let you know as soon as I do though."

After that pleasant conversation, I left for WestWick. Since it was Wednesday, everyone should be in class. I'm sure Director Brown should be happy that I'm back…or not.

Once I got back I tried to find Kelsey, I needed to talk with her. I knew that I had to tell her that her brother and I had something. I didn't even know what that something was, but I knew it was there. Every time I saw him I felt weird.

When I saw her she ran over to me and hugged me. "I missed you so much, Steph!" she blurted out.

I laughed and said, "I missed you too!" We stopped hugging and we walked to a bench so we could talk.

Kelsey started, "So much has happened since you were away! We really need to talk!"

"I need to talk with you too, but you can go ahead and start."

She smiled a huge smile and said excitedly, "I have a boyfriend!"

I gasped and said, "Aww! Tell me all about him."

"Okay, well he's new. He started the Monday after you left. He's cute, sweet, kind," she looked past me and smiled again, "and he's right there."

I turned around and my heart stopped. I recognized that face, that walk, that care free façade of his. Why was he here? He didn't know where I was. Did he follow me? I could not have him here, he knew my secret. Was he the one who was threatening me?

As he got closer, Kelsey ran up to him and gave him a kiss. She grabbed his hand and brought him over to me.

She introduced us, "Stephanie, this is my amazing boyfriend Bryce." She turned to Bryce and said, "Bryce, this is my amazing best friend Stephanie."

Bryce offered his hand for me to shake it. I offered my hand in return, and we shook hands. He gave me that charming smile that I remembered, but I wouldn't let him fool me. He always had a plan behind everything and I intended to find out what his plan was here.

Kelsey's phone rang. She looked at the caller i.d. and said, "I need to take this, but you two go ahead and mingle. I have a feeling that you'll be seeing a lot of each other." She winked at us, and then left.

As she walked away, Bryce looked at me. He smiled and shook his head. "Stephanie? I liked you better as Jessica." He played with a piece of my hair. "And what happened to your blondeness? It turned to brown."

I smacked his hand away from my hair. "What the hell are you doing here, Bryce? I didn't tell you where I was going for a reason."

He acted all offended. "That's no way to treat me, especially considering that with one sentence I could get you arrested." I started to walk away, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. He whispered to me, "Don't forget that I know who you are and that my dad is a cop. I highly doubt that you want to spend the rest of your life behind bars, so here is what you're going to do. You will not tell anyone that you and I use to date, you'll keep your affections for your boyfriend to a minimum around me, and that you'll be kissing me."

"There is no way in hell that I'll be kissing you." I tried to pull away, but his grip got harder.

Bryce raised his eyebrows and said, "You should be lucky that I'm not greedy. It's only first base, and besides you are in no position whatsoever to argue with me." He got on the other side of me and whispered in my ear, "Don't forget what I'm capable of considering my father's position."

I finally got my arm away from him and said sternly, "Don't forget what _I_ am capable of, Bryce."

For a moment he let his guard drop and looked somewhat scared. I smirked—even though I was terrified that he was here—and walked away.

"You'll hear from me soon!" Bryce called after me.

I needed to get out of here. I don't know where to, but all I know is that I needed a drink.

Twenty minutes later I found myself at bar drinking shots of tequila. I knew tequila was a trashy drink, but I needed something strong. I drank about five shots before I got a text. I picked up my phone and saw that it was from Ashton. It read:

**Will you meet me in my room? We need to talk…**

I replied:

**Yeah I will, but I'm sorta busy right now… I'll see you in about half an hour. **

I set my phone down and took another shot. I looked to my right and saw Chuck staring at me. Of course he would be skipping school to go to a bar. He had a glass of scotch in front of him. He picked up his drink and went to sit by me.

He smiled and said, "You're finally back. I've been missing you—especially in Brown's class. I've been stuck with Courtney the bitch and Nick. Do you realize how vapid it's been?"

He put his hand on my hand, but I threw it off me. "What do you want, Chuck?"

Ignoring my question he said, "So what's up with you and the mini Brown? I would've figured that you would be with him. Did you guys break up?"

I took another shot of tequila and said, "Why would you assume that we broke up?"

He laughed. "That doesn't answer my question, but to answer yours," he took a sip of his scotch and continued, "everyone knows why Ashton got in his accident. He was getting you…from Clint's. Everyone knows that you cheated on him. If you guys haven't broken up then it's really only a matter of time before you do." Chuck's gaze dropped from my face to other areas of my body. He smiled and continued, "And when that happens you'll be mine."

I gave an obvious false smile, picked up his scotch, and poured it on him. I let my smile drop as I said, "I'll _never_ be yours."

He wiped some liquid off of his hair and smiled. "You know that's what a lot of girls say, but I always find a way to change their mind. Plus, I'm a guy who likes a happy ending. You do want me to happy right?"

I took one more shot of tequila and walked away. I looked back once and Chuck winked at me.


	27. Can You Really Define Love?

Can You Really Define Love?

"The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them."-Stephen King

Ten minutes later I was walking into Ashton's room at the hospital. I felt sort of drunk, but I think I could manage talking.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner," I said while stumbling into his room.

"No, it's fine." I could tell by his voice that he felt a little better. "So, I thought about us and I'm going to give you one more chance." I broke out in a smile, but he continued, "Only one more chance, Stephanie. I mean it, if you screw up again then I'm done."

I was still smiling. "Yes, absolutely. I swear to you, Ashton, I will not make the same mistake."

After I said that he started smiling. Ashton then said, "Get over here."

I giggled and ran over to him. "I really wish I could snuggle with you right now, baby. I missed you so much and-"

He raised his hand to stop me and said, "No more talking." I was confused at first, but then he started to pull me towards him.

Our lips met, and it was a wonderful experience that I haven't had in about a month. It was a sweet, soft, gentle kiss that lasted only five seconds.

I heard someone clear their throat at the door way. I jerked away from Ashton to see his brother standing there.

_Great…Director Brown saw me making out with his younger brother_.

"I got here as soon as I could. I'm glad to see you up, Ashton," Director Brown said.

Ashton replied awkwardly, "Yeah it's good to be up." He scratched the back of his head and continued, "So did I miss a lot in school?"

"Yes you did, but I'm sure Stephanie won't mind catching you up." He looked over at me and smiled. "So if you don't mind me asking, what were you two just doing?" He was looking at me, but he addressed it to Ashton.

Ashton laughed and answered simply, "We were just kissing."

"I just want to know why you two are so public," he replied.

"I've been unconscious for almost a month, Michael. So I'm sorry if I missed my girlfriend. Besides it's none of your business what we do."

"I just want you to be careful. I mean you two haven't know each other for very long and I don't think Mom would be very pleased to know-"

Ashton interrupted, "If I could get up right now, I'd punch you. Now, shut up and get the hell out of here."

"Fine. I will leave, but you don't need your heart rate going up. I'm going to get the nurse for your medication." He looked at me and said, "We have practice later today, I'll text you the time. I expect you to be there."

Once he left, Ashton exhaled loudly and yelled, "Damn it!"

I walked over to him and said, "Don't listen to him, he's an idiot."

"He always knows what to say to make me think twice."

Think twice? Twice about what? Twice about us? Why would he do that? I can't lose him after I just got him back.

"Think twice about what?" I asked as I took his hand in mine.

Ashton looked up and shook his head. I just stared at him, waiting for an answer.

"My brother's right, Stephanie." Ashton made eye contact with me. "We met three days before school started. Our first kiss was in jail—you were behind bars! I told you I loved you when we were half naked in the cafeteria making out after two days of knowing each other. That's not a real relationship."

My eyebrows pulled together as I jerked my hand away from his. "The hell it's not a real relationship! So what if our first kiss was behind bars? What does that matter? And I don't know why you told me you loved me, but I know why I told you! I loved you then because I could tell that you cared about me and I cared about you too. I loved you because of all the things that you did for me. I loved you because you saved me from a sad, pathetic life. I loved you because-"

"Okay, I get it," he said softly.

I started to pace around the room. I walked to the door and closed it and back to the bed. "Do you even love me?" I teared up and gave weak scoff. "And when I say 'love' I mean true, genuine love."

Ashton answered almost immediately, "Of course I love you, Stephanie."

"Why? Why do you love me?"

Ashton closed his eyes. What if he told me he couldn't think of anything? What would I do? Go to Clint? Go to Chuck? No. I wouldn't go to either of those, especially not Chuck. Ashton is my true love—we're meant for each other.

After a minute of anxious waiting I said, "Ashton if you can't think-"

At the same time he said, "I love you because-"

Ashton laughed and said, "Well, I love you because you're impatient. I love you because of all of your many flaws. I love you because I can tell you things that nobody else knows. I love you because you make my life worth living again and you make my life fun. I love you because you're not like most girls. I love you because-"

I interrupted his next sentence with a kiss. I kissed him because I knew at that moment that he was one hundred percent in love with me. Once I was done kissing him I said, "I love you too."

Ashton smiled. "Well that's good." I kissed him one more time. "I've missed you so much. I can't wait 'till I can get out of here."

I nodded and replied happily, "I can't wait until you get out of here either, because," I said while stroking his hair, "when you do, you and I are going to have a date."

"Oh, really?" Ashton asked while smiling.

"M-hmm. You can ask me _any_ question and I have to answer honestly and the same goes with me asking you questions."

"It sounds like a plan, baby."

After that I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss, told him I would talk to him later, and left for soccer practice.


	28. Catching Up

Catching Up

"The love game is never called off on account of darkness."-Robert Frost

Considering I haven't played soccer in about a month, I sucked. The first half of practice we were scrimmaging and the last half we were conditioning. Since I was the center forward before Ashton's accident Coach Brown put me there again. I could barely shoot, trap, or aim. What's also exciting is that we have a game this coming up Saturday and Coach told me that if I want to keep my center forward position then I would have to have extra practices before and after school to catch me up on skills and conditioning.

It was seven p.m. when Kelsey and I were in our dorm after soccer.

"You have no idea how lonely I've been here without you," Kelsey said as she was giving herself a pedicure on her bed. "Where have you been staying anyways?"

"Ashton's hotel," I replied. I stood up as I said, "Hey do we have any champagne?"

Kelsey said confused, "Umm, if we do then it's with the wine."

I walked over to the back of my closet and bent down. I picked up a medium sized box and brought it out of the closet. In that box were two wine glasses, a few bottles of wine, and hopefully a bottle of champagne.

Kelsey and I started that whole secret stash of wine towards the end of the first week of school. We had a load of homework, we had our first soccer game that Saturday night, and I had a dance competition that Friday night. Because of that, we decided that we should always have at least one bottle of wine ready to go whenever we felt overwhelmed or just wanted to have a little fun. Sometimes on Friday nights when I want a girl night and not spend it with Ashton, Kelsey and I always have a little wine and peanut m&m's—it's our thing.

I opened the box and sure enough, there was one bottle of champagne and two champagne glasses. I got them out and put them on the floor. I walked over to my bottom desk drawer and pulled out a target sack.

Kelsey joked, "Let me guess what you're about to do. You're about to pull out a gun and shoot me and then celebrate with a glass of champagne."

I laughed dryly. Little did she know that that actually hurt a little bit.

As I pulled out the box of godiva chocolate I said, "Actually, I bought chocolate."

Kelsey gasped as she finished her last coat on her pinky toe. She quickly climbed down her bed ladder and waddled over to me carefully, so she wouldn't mess up her freshly pedicured toes.

"Godiva chocolate is my worst weakness ever, but I love you so much right now!"

She stared at the chocolate wide-eyed as I laughed. We both sat down as I opened the box of chocolates.

Kelsey made a face continued, "Wait a second. There is chocolate and champagne. Either we're celebrating something or grieving over something."

"Well we are definitely _not_ grieving, so I guess we're sort of celebrating," I replied.

As I was about to open the champagne I realized that the bottle was already half empty. I stared quizzically at Kelsey as she was basically urging me to open it with the look on her face.

I asked her, "Why do we have a _half_ bottle full of champagne?"

She looked confused at first, but then she looked like she realized something.

Kelsey replied, "Oh, right. Well last weekend after Bryce's football game, we went back up here. It turned out that he brought champagne," she smiled and continued, "and tequila. We started off playing regular poker, but then it turned into strip poker and-"

"Okay, thanks. I don't need a play by play I think I got how it ended."

I really didn't need to hear how she slept with my ex. I never did make it that far with him, because when we kissed and it got too far, I always told him to slow down. He used to be nice and follow my orders, but now I guess I have to follow his. I forgot up until that moment that Bryce is going to make me kiss him sooner or later. I just pray that time isn't soon…

Kelsey started cracking up. "I'm just kidding about that last part. He did bring champagne, but not tequila. And we never played poker or strip poker; we just talked and celebrated his winning touchdown." She looked at me for a second then started laughing all over again. "You thought I slept with him? Please. The one thing I learned from Courtney is that being a slut takes you nowhere."

At that, I laughed. I also felt relief that she and Bryce haven't done it yet, but knowing Bryce, he would probably be pressuring her soon.

Kelsey continued, "So why are we celebrating?"

I opened the champagne and filled the two glasses. Kelsey took one and I took the other.

"Well, I guess your new relationship along with my better than ever relationship with Ashton," I told her.

She raised her glass and said, "To great days with great guys and many more to come."

I mimicked her motion and we drank. We started eating the chocolate and talking.

"So how is Ashton?" Kelsey asked me.

I took a sip. "Well since he's conscious, I guess that's a step up. I just can't wait until he's out of the hospital." Kelsey nodded. "He should be out by Friday or Saturday, after that it's just the matter of his bones healing." I sighed and said, "Enough about my relationship tell me about you and Bryce." I really didn't want to talk about him, but I wanted to be a good friend to Kelsey.

She ate a piece of chocolate and chewed it slowly. She took a sip and looked down. "Let's not talk about that right now."

"Did something happen?"

"No, I just don't want to talk about him right now."

That was odd. Like two minutes ago she was kidding about sleeping with him and now she doesn't want to talk about him? I swear if he did something to her then I'll kick his ass. I don't care who his dad is.

At that moment I got a text. I sighed because it was from Chuck. It read:

**Its good 2 have you back, Peterson. Im looking forward 2 having some more alone time with u…w/out u ruining my clothes with scotch :). If u get bored later though u know where 2 find me ;)**

I sighed again and shut my phone.

Kelsey eyed me suspiciously and said, "Who was that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Chuck."

Kelsey laughed. "I told you that he has the hots for you. Has he made his move yet?"

I scoffed. I thought back to his party when he talked to me and the time after my first English class here. He has been making his move since the first time we met. I seriously wouldn't care if he got expelled…or arrested.

"Please, he's been making his move for awhile now," I told her.

"I'm surprised you haven't acquiesced yet. I told you once that everyone has their Chuck moment sooner or later."

I really hoped that I never had my Chuck moment. I thought about his carefree attitude about everything. About the law, Director Brown, or basically just authority in general. The only way that I would ever have a moment like that is when Hell freezes over.

I decided to stop thinking about my possible moment and start listening to other people's reality.

"Tell me about yours, Kelsey."

Kelsey laughed and shook her head. She took a sip of champagne and said, "There's really nothing to tell. It was just a little freshmen rendezvous during spring break."

"Nothing to tell?" I asked dubiously. Once she nodded I continued, "I've known Chuck long enough to know that with him it's never nothing—"

"Oh my gosh, enough about Chuck! I do not want to hear any more about that sadistic ass," she said while smiling. I knew she was just avoiding it, but I would get it out of her eventually.

I watched her smile and I thought of Clint. I thought of his perfect blonde hair and how he always hugs me gently, like I was a fragile doll and could break easily.

Then I thought of Ashton. Ashton is my boyfriend and Clint is my friend. There's nothing wrong with checking up on your friend. Right?

I started, "So how's your brother doing?"

"Clint?" When I nodded she shifted uncomfortably. "Okay what's going on with you two? I mean it's totally fine if you're into my brother it's just-"

"I'm not into Clint. Why would you think that? You know that I love Ashton."

Kelsey gave me a sad smile. "Stephanie, everyone knows why Ashton got in his car accident. They know that you were with Clint, but what _I_ know is that you were at my house." She looked down and continued, "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

I looked down and wondered if there was anything to tell. I thought back to the moments that I've shared with Clint: When we first met on the train, me meeting his brothers, us kissing at Starbucks, us seeing movies and shopping, and then there was that night at his house…

Well considering that I not only remember _every_ moment that we've shared, but also remember the feelings that I felt, I'd say that there _was_ something was to tell.

Since I was tired of lying I decided to tell the truth, "Umm…Clint and I almost kissed that night."

Kelsey stared at me in bewilderment. I could tell she was shocked at what I swore not to do again. Even though I didn't actually kiss him, almost kissing him is pretty much the same thing.

Once I saw that she wasn't going to say anything, I continued softly, "The only thing that stopped us from kissing was the call from the hospital about Ashton." I closed my eyes and went on, "When I was about to leave, Clint told me that he was falling in love with me."

I heard Kelsey cough and opened my eyes. She choked on a sip of champagne. She got a weird look on her face and said, "He told you he loved you?"

"I know this is weird, and trust me I know this is totally wrong considering Ashton, but…well—I don't know how I feel about him."

Her eyebrow's pulled together as she shook her head. "Stephanie, there's something you need to know about Clint—"

My phone interrupted us. It was a text from Clint:

**Hey Steph. It's been awhile since we last spoke…can you meet me? Like now? I'm outside your dorm, so can we go for a walk :) **

"Speak of the devil…" I said.

After I showed Kelsey the text, she said reluctantly, "Fine. Go ahead and go on your walk."

I put on my gray Hollister sweatshirt over my red tank top. I looked in the mirror to see how I looked. My hair was a mess; it looked like I just woke up. I put it in a high bun and decided that I now look at least presentable.

"If there's nothing going on with you two, then why do you care how you look?" Kelsey asked me.

That caught me off guard. Yes, the question was true. Why did I care? It wasn't like I was off to see Ashton. The only person who I would see was Clint.

When she saw that I wasn't going to answer she continued, "Like I said, it's okay if you're into Clint. Just make sure you don't hurt Ashton again. If you have to dump him, then dump him. Just don't cheat again."

I nodded my head in agreement as I walked out the door. There was an eerie feeling as I walked through the hall. It was as if someone were watching me. I turned around, and heard someone breathing. I decided to run.

Once I got outside I immediately saw Clint. Our eyes connected and he smiled. He walked over to me for a hug, but I turned away. I really wanted a hug from him, but I was almost positive that Kelsey was watching us through the window.

"So why did you want to talk?" I asked.

Clint kept staring at me intently. "Maybe because the last time we saw each other I told you I loved you and—"

"No. You said that you were falling in love with me…not that you were in love with me."

He walked closer to me and said, "Well just so we're clear," he leaned in closer and whispered in my ear, "I love you."

I closed my eyes and sighed. What was I supposed to do? When was he going to get that I only liked him as a friend? I mean has he been an awesome friend? Absolutely, but I just wanted to stay friends.

"What do you expect me to say?" I asked softly.

He snickered. "Anything is better than this agonizing silence." He then put his hand on my shoulder.

"Clint—" I said while pulling away from him.

"Never mind, don't say anything. Just listen." He put his hands on my face. "I'm the guy for you, Stephanie Peterson. I'm the guy for you and I'm gonna prove it."

Tears started to form in my eyes as I shook my head. "Why? Why would you do that to me?" I stomped my foot on the ground like a little kid throwing a fit. "Damn it, Clint. You know that I love Ashton. I don't want you to prove anything!"

"Too bad because starting now, I'm gonna fight for you."

"I don't want you to! When are you going to get it?"

He gently kissed me on the forehead. "I'll wait for you then."

I was absolutely speechless after that. I went over what I knew in my head: I have a boyfriend, I have a boy friend who wants to be my boyfriend, I have an ex-boyfriend who's threatening me, and I have a random guy who wants to have sex with me. Why were guys so freaking complicated? And why was I in the middle of a crazy love square thing? I don't even know if that's the proper name for the mess I'm tangled in.

When I was about to reply to his declaration of love for me, I saw that he walked away. I looked up at my dorm window and saw Kelsey shaking her head just before she also walked away.


	29. An Attempted Perfect Night

An Attempted Perfect Night

"Few delights can equal the mere presence of one whom we trust utterly."-George MacDonald

"Welcome home," I told Ashton as we walked into his penthouse that Friday night.

He gave me a weak smile. When he actually looked at his room, his eyes lit up and he asked, "Are you sure this is _my _place?" He laughed and continued, "What is this?"

What was he talking about? Was he referring to the dinner I made him, the scented candles lit everywhere, or the romantic music playing quietly in the background?

"Well," I started, "I figured that since this is our first date in almost a month and that you have to be on those crutches for a while that I would make one of your favorite meals: ribs, green beans, and garlic mash potatoes."

He looked around and nodded. After a couple of seconds he made eye contact with me and whispered, "Thank you, baby."

I smiled. We walked to the kitchen table. Once I got him settled, I made his plate and mine. I waited for him to taste the ribs. Hopefully they were good; it took all day with the sauce and the actual cooking.

"Okay, these are freaking amazing!" he said happily. I sighed in relief. "Seriously, where did you get this recipe?"

I took a sip of tea and replied, "I got it from Kelsey. Apparently they pass it down." I laughed. "I didn't even know British people have heard of ribs, let alone eat them."

I got the recipe from Kelsey last night. That was the first time we spoke after Clint told me he was going to fight for me. I was honest with her about what he said though. I assured her that I wasn't going to cheat again. I think she believed me despite all of her crappy skeptical looks she gave me.

Ashton's phone interrupted my thoughts.

I sighed. "Ashton, please don't take that."

He looked at the caller ID and said, "I promise after this I'll turn my phone off."

"Fine."

He opened it up. "Hey, man….nothing much. How about you?"

Nothing much? Was he talking about our date? How was that nothing much?

His eyebrows pulled together as he listened to the caller. He sighed and continued, "How much?" His eyebrows then shot up. "By when?...Tomorrow? How do you expect me to…..well I can try, but considering that a leg and an arm are in crutches….okay…m-hmm….yeah she's with me now….I'll let her know….see ya."

"Who was that?"

Ashton closed his phone and turned it off. "Chuck."

"Chuck?" I took a bite of green beans. "What did he want?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

I raised my eyebrows and waited for him to explain. When I saw that he wasn't going to, I said, "I thought there were no more secrets between us, Ashton."

"There's not."

"Then why is it so hard to tell me what Chuck wanted?" I demanded.

He replied softly, "He just wanted a favor, okay?"

I answered immediately, "I thought the whole point of this date was to know more about each other and to not keep things from one another."

Ashton stared at me awhile before answering. "It is."

"Okay then why won't you tell me what Chuck," I sighed. I realized that I was getting too upset. "I'm sorry. I know I'm acting like a bitch, but the past couple of days have been hard."

He wiped off some sauce he had on his mouth. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why have the past couple of days been hard?"

I knew what he was doing. He didn't want to tell me what Chuck said and he knew I didn't want to tell him about my week. Little did he know that my reason was also the reason he was in the hospital.

I couldn't believe Clint told me he was going to fight for me. What did that even mean? Was he going to literally fight for me or was he going to just say more love poems to me? And if I told Ashton what Clint said, how would he react? Please, he would be mad. There was no way I could tell him. I'll just avoid the question. That way I wouldn't have to lie to him.

"No reason," I replied. No reason? Wow. Could I seriously have not come up with a better way to answer that?

"Okay."

Whoa. Wait a second. Okay? Where were the statements like, "I thought this date was all about questions."? Why did he just say okay? What game was he playing?

I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. He smirked and continued eating. He was doing this on purpose. He knew I wasn't expecting that. Well you know what? Two can play that game.

"This past week has been hard because—"

"You don't have to tell me."

"I know, but you're going to find out anyway, so you might as well hear it from me."

That got Ashton's attention. He put down his fork and looked at me with anticipating eyes.

I continued, "This past week has been hard because," I broke eye contact and continued, "Clint told me he was going to start fighting for me."

Ashton immediately replied appalled, "What?" I looked back up at Ashton, only to see his eyebrows pulled together. "When did he say that?"

I started to tear up. I knew he was hurting, but I knew that Clint was going to do something sooner or later, so I just figured I might as well let Ashton know now instead of causing yet another feud.

"The night you woke up," responded.

"And you're just now telling me?" he asked. He didn't sound mad or angry, but rather hurt. That was when my heart started aching.

Ashton shook his head and closed his eyes. "Stephanie-"

"Tonight is the first time we've truly talked since then."

"I know, but you would think that everything we've been through would make you think that you should tell me when someone tells you—"

"I know, Ashton, and I am so, so sorry. I know you're upset and-"

"I'm beyond upset. When I'm healed, I'm gonna remind him how we won the revolutionary war by kicking his ass." He paused and looked up at me. "Has he said anything to you since then?"

"No."

"Will you tell me when or if he does?"

"Absolutely. I promise that I'll come straight to you."

He gave me a little smile. "Okay."

We continued eating. After a few moments of awkward silence, I tried to lighten the mood. "I think that you're entitled to tell me what Chuck said."

He laughed. "He wanted to remind me and you that since tomorrow's Halloween, he's having a party."

"Wait, tomorrow's Halloween?" Once he nodded I said, "Wow."

"I know. I can't believe I missed all of October."

I took a bite of a rib. "Well you missed the boring parts. You get to experience the only fun of it tomorrow." I smiled. "So, is that all Chuck said?"

"Hmm?"

"You said Chuck wanted to remind us of his party. Is that all he said to you?"

Ashton licked his lips and nodded. "Yup. Pretty much, yeah."

I smiled. "You, my gorgeous boyfriend, are lying."

"No I'm not."

"You licked your lips before you answered my question. Therefore, you're lying."

He scoffed. "People can lick their lips and not lie."

"Not you."

He smiled and laughed a quiet laugh. I kept talking, "You don't have to tell me."

I then walked over to him and held out my hand. He took it and I helped him over to the couch where we sat down. He put his bad arm around me and started stroking me with the other hand. He leaned forward and softly kissed me on the lips.

"Mmm," I said as we pulled away. "I missed that."

"I missed you too." I smiled. I put my head down on his shoulder as he started stroking my cheek again. "Thank you for the dinner. It was amazing."

"Is that the only thing that was amazing?"

He snickered, lifted my chin up with his finger, and kissed me again. "Well that was pretty amazing too."

I smiled. "Good." I sat up. "And speaking of dinner, there is still some on your face. Right here," I licked some barbeque off the corner of his mouth. "And here," I kissed some off of his cheek. "And here," the process continued until I just kissed his mouth.

Once we were done, Ashton opened his apparently closed eyes and said, "So that's why you chose ribs."

I pouted. "You figured out my secret. What am I supposed to do now?"

"I think I have an idea."

We kissed for what seemed like an hour. We gave each other soft kisses on the lips, cheek, neck, basically anywhere that didn't hurt him.

He drew back after awhile. "Why are we stopping?" I asked out-of-breath.

"I want you to do something for me."

I looked into his eyes. "Anything."

"Make a list of your top ten favorite songs about love. They can be fast, slow, about finding love, losing love, whatever. But is _has_ to be about love."

I searched his face for a sign of joking, but I couldn't find any. "You're serious," I said matter-of-factly.

He nodded. "Yes."

"I don't really get it, but okay."

I leaned in for another kiss, but he stopped me. "What?" I asked.

"I know I'm probably stupid for denying one of your amazing gifts, but I am exhausted. Do you mind—"

"I'll tuck you in."

Once I got Ashton into bed and gave him one goodnight kiss, I started to clean up the kitchen. Somehow, I ended up thinking about Clint. I thought of those stunningly compelling blue eyes that I got lost in every time I looked into them.

_Damn it._

I need to stop thinking about him. The next time I see him, I will tell him to stop acting like I want him. I'll refuse anything more than an _okay._


	30. Chuck or a Cherry?

Chuck or a Cherry?

"Music is the poetry of the air."-Richter

The next day when Ashton was in the shower, I thought I'd make that list of songs he wanted. I wondered what he wanted it for though. Maybe he would get the lyrics and write a love poem. No, he wouldn't do that. That would be a Clint thing.

_No._ There is no Clint thinking allowed. I grabbed a piece of paper and pen. I started writing.

1. How Could I Not Love you- Pro Sound Version

2. Almost Lover- A Fine Frenzy

3. Love Remains The Same- Gavi

My phone interrupted me. I had a text from Chuck.

**R u coming 2nite? **

Since I was in a good mood, I replied: **Of course! How could I miss a chuck party? :)**

I went back to writing.

1. How Could I Not Love you- Pro Sound Version

2. Almost Lover- A Fine Frenzy

3. Love Remains The Same- Gavin Rossdale

4. Love Just Is- Hilary D

My phone started beeping. He replied: **Could I get a preview of your costume? Pretty please with….me on top? ;) **

I laughed to myself and texted back: **How could I refuse an offer like that? :P. Lol. But im sorry…I don't have a costume yet. Kelsey and I are going shopping later.**

"Who's that?" Ashton asked as he came into the living room wearing nothing but a towel.

I pressed sent and put down my paper and pen.

"It was Chuck," I replied as I walked over to him. "And no, we're not talking about what we discussed last night during dinner."

He limped past me to his dresser. "Never thought it was." He smiled and opened a drawer to get out his clothes. "So when are you and Kelsey leaving?"

I walked over to him and put his arm around my shoulder for support. We started walking towards the bathroom. "She told me she would call when she was at the front desk so we could let her up."

Ashton nodded. I rubbed my hand across his chest.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "You seem a little different."

"I'm fine. I just wish I could get out of this." He was referring to his cast. "Doctor said at least six weeks for my arm and leg to heal. That means I'll miss district and maybe even regional games in soccer."

I got in front of him and put my hands on his face.

"Listen to me. I won't take six weeks to heal. It'll heal sooner…I promise."

"How do you know?"

"Because I do."

It looked like he was searching my face for some kind of confirmation. I stared back with what was hopefully comfort. My phone's beep interrupted us.

"You should get that," Ashton said, "it's probably Kelsey." He then limped his way to the bathroom and shut the door.

I walked over to the phone expecting it to be Kelsey. Nope. It was Chuck: **Maybe I could get a preview of something else then? ;) I'll see ya 2nite Peterson…cant wait.**

I didn't even give him the satisfaction of an answer.My phone beeped again, but when I looked it thankfully wasn't Chuck.

"Hey," I said into the phone.

"Hey, I'm here. Will you come down?" Kelsey asked.

"You don't wanna come up?**"**

"No, I'm really hungry. I was thinking we could grab a bite to eat before we go shopping."

I looked at my watch. I thought it was like four. It turns out it's twelve thirty.

I replied, "Sounds good. I'll be right down."

I hung up the phone and walked to the bathroom door. I softly knocked once.

"Ashton?"

"Yeah?" he said on the other side of the door.

"Kelsey's here. I'm gonna meet her in the lobby. Is that-"

Ashton opened the door and said, "Cool. I'll go with you."

"No, you should stay and rest," I protested.

"Well, that would be hard considering I'm meeting Chuck."

"Chuck? Why Chuck?"

He licked his lips. "I don't know. We wanna hang out."

I raised my eyebrows and said, "You licked your lips."

He rolled his eyes. "Really? Are we seriously gonna go over this again?"

After a few minutes of arguing, I acquiesced. We both went down to meet Kelsey. We said our good-byes. While Kelsey and I started walking towards her car, I looked back at Ashton who was eagerly seating there, waiting for Chuck. He looked a little too eager if you asked me.


	31. Queen of Ice

Queen of Ice

"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad."-Aldous Huxley

"Is this too slutty?" Kelsey asked me while holding up a costume.

After lunch, we went to the Halloween store. I couldn't believe there actually was a store called Halloween. But sell Halloween stuff they do. In one aisle there was candy; in another, kid costumes; in another, teen costumes; then there was the aisle we were in—the adult costumes. I already picked mine out. I was the Queen of Hearts. The costume was just like it was supposed to be—cute, but not _too_ slutty. Well, it wasn't just cute…it was hot. It was a black halter top (which makes my boobs like amazing) with two white stripes down its side. On those stripes were three red hearts. It also came with a black tutu with white garland wrapped around the bottom with small black hearts. Now since the tutu was really short, I also bought white socks which came to about the mid-thigh area, with black and red hearts all over it. And of course, I'm wearing adorable black pumps.

Kelsey on the other hand, hasn't been so lucky with the whole costume picking. She must have tried on at least fifteen already. All of them were either too slutty or not enough slutty. On every one she asked for my opinion, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't focus. I was too busy thinking about why Ashton wanted to meet Chuck.

I mean out of all people why Chuck? What could they possibly be—

"Stephanie," Kelsey interrupted my thoughts. "Hello?"

I snapped back into reality. "Hmm?"

"What about this one?" She held up way, way, too slutty police officer dress. If she wanted to look like a low class stripper then she should go for it, but if not then she definitely shouldn't.

I tried to tell her in an easy way. "Well, let's just say that looks like a Courtney dress."

"Ugh," she said in disgust while throwing it at the floor. She looked at the dress as if it were covered in vomit. She sighed in frustration. "I am never going to be able to find a costume. All the good ones have already been taken and—"

Her phone interrupted her. As soon as she glanced at the screen, all the color from her face dropped. She immediately shut it and put it back in her purse. She shut her eyes as if she were holding back tears.

"Who was that?" I asked in concern.

Her eyes popped open. "Nobody important."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure." She gave a not-so-convincing smile. "See? All fine."

When she reached down to pick up the police stripper dress, I noticed three big, dark bruises on her arm and shoulder. I couldn't believe I didn't notice them before. Kelsey straightened up and hung the dress back up. She saw me looking at her.

"Kelsey, what happened?" I asked as I pulled her arm towards me.

"What are you—" she realized what I was talking about. "Oh. Nothing."

"Kelsey those are not nothing."

She yanked her arm from me. "I tripped and landed on my arm. Okay?"

I gave a dubious look. "Really? You're going with the whole, 'Oh, I just tripped'?" She shrugged her shoulders. "You are talking to the clumsiest person in the world and I have _never_ had bruises like those from tripping."

"Maybe you weren't in heels," she retorted.

"Seriously what happened?" Something occurred to me. What if it was Bryce? I mean when we were dating he would never do that, but then again he wouldn't threaten me either. I've noticed that since he's been at WestWick something's changed in him. Who knew what he was capable of now? "Did Bryce do this?"

"What?" she asked appalled.

"Because if he did you can tell me. I won't tell-"

"Of course not! Why would you even think that? He's my boyfriend, he would never hurt me."

"Just listen-"

"No, _you_ listen. Maybe you should spend a little less time worrying about my relationship and little more worrying about yours."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"What, you didn't think I noticed Ashton mysteriously waiting in the lobby and your reaction to it? I'm not that blonde. Stay out of my business from now on." She started walking away from me. She turned around and started walking backwards. "And just for the record, instead of the queen of hearts it should be the queen of ice," She turned around again, "or bitches!"

Well, I'll take that as a yes.


End file.
